Obama DNI Says Saddam Hussein’s WMD Stockpile Sent to Syria by Gregory Hilton

Thanks to President Obama, we have just found Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and George W. Bush’s legacy is being rescued. The President today nominated Lt. Gen. James Clapper USAF (Ret) to be Director of National Intelligence. Clapper is now the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence.
Clapper says Saddam Hussein’s WMD and supporting documents were sent to Syria in the weeks before the 2003 U.S. invasion. Satellite images released in 2004 by the Pentagon show Russian vehicles loading materials at Iraqi factories. Clapper was present at a meeting of East European intelligence officials who disclosed Russia’s role in moving the Iraqi material out of the country. Senior Israeli military officers have said their country snapped line of sight photographs of convoys leaving Iraq for Syria before the war.
Nothing was suppressed. Gen. Clapper discussed the satellite imaging photos in 2004. He was head of the agency that reviewed those photos from 2001 to 2006. The media just ignored his comments.
Now the Obama administration’s senior intelligence expert is saying the WMD stockpile was sent to Syria. Saddam had no reason to ship conventional weapons out of Iraq. His government was allowed to have those weapons, and they were never subjected to the UN sanctions. According to George Piro, Saddam’s FBI interrogator, Saddam admitted Iraq continued to maintain the ability to produce WMD. So, being in the WMD business does not require that it’s made and ready to go, but just ready to be made.
The Bush administration was never able to convince people that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. However, the over 75,000 Kurdish people in the town of Halabja never had any doubt. Over 5,000 of them died in a WMD attack. Saddam tried to blame the attack on the Iranians, but it was Iran’s TV station that brought the attack to world attention.
On a related topic, the position of DNI is set up for fail. Directors McConnell, Blair and now Clapper are all stuck with the same laws that prohibit the DNI from directing operations of the 16 intelligence agencies. They all report frustration in trying to get the 16 intelligence agencies to share information. The Intelligence Community is best at protecting itself from itself. Each agency does not trust the other.

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Samuel F. B. Morse as an Artist by Gregory Hilton

It was 188 years ago today that this painting by Samuel F. B. Morse was first displayed. The 1822 canvas can now be seen at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Morse is best remembered for inventing the telegraph, Morse code and daguerreotype photography.
Since 1864, the Old Hall of the U.S. House of Representatives has been known as Statuary Hall. It served as the original House chamber from 1807 to 1857. The Presidential inaugurations of James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Millard Fillmore all occurred in this room. Adams, “old man eloquent,” served 17 years in the House after his presidency and suffered a fatal stroke in this room on February 21, 1848. “The Art Book” (Phaidon) describes the painting by saying:
“A moment of quiet harmony reigns in the US House of Representative as members and visitors gather for an evening session. At the center of this monumental canvas is a chandelier whose light casts an abstract pattern of shadows throughout the grand Classical space of the hall, which had been recently rebuilt by architect Benjamin Latrobe following the 1814 devastation of the Capitol by the English . . . Morse ultimately quit painting in 1837, disappointed by the country’s slow cultural advancement. He devoted the rest of his life to politics and inventing.”