Morning Joe: Scarborough And Buchanan Want Hearings Over NIE

By Nicole Belle — December 4, 2007

Hear that, Joe Biden?

So this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough had Pat Buchanan on the phone to discuss the recent NIE revelations about Iran, and Bush's pathetic performance yesterday in saying that he didn't find out about it until just now. Both Pat and Joe were absolutely incredulous at that statement.

Buchanan went one step further. He said Joe Biden needs to get back to Washington and HOLD HEARINGS on who knew what, and when. He actually called on Biden to haul Condi Rice and Stephen Hadley before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to ask them if they knew about the NIE report, and if they had ever told Bush. Pat and Joe were both adamant that if either of those two knew about this report, and didn't let the President know about it, they should be fired immediately. And if they DID tell Bush, and yet Bush still went on warmongering with the knowledge that Iran had stopped its nuclear program in 2003, then, well... they didn't exactly define what the consequence should be then. Read on...

I've got a few suggestions for some very apt consequences, how about you?

Partial transcript below the fold:

Buchanan: The Republican candidates including Giuliani and the others are talking about using nuclear weapons, tactical atomic weapons on Iran to rip it of nuclear weapons when it stopped its own program four years ago. This is incredible.

Scarborough: Does Congress need to subpoena Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Steven Hadley and the Director of the CIA and the Secretary of Defense and ask them what they knew and when they knew it?

Buchanan: Exactly. And the President of the United States should tell us what he knew and when he knew it, what he said yesterday is noncredible. If the head of the CIA walks in and says we've got new intelligence on Iran and Bush doesn't ask him what exactly are you talking about 'new intelligence' that's not credible. But Joe you're right. Biden ought to get off the campaign trail, get back here and chair that committee and say 'look, what exactly were you told?' -- bring up the CIA and bring up Negroponte. He was the number one guy in intelligence. Look, we are being stampeded towards war with Iran, the second war in this administration on the basis of intelligence which was false and that is incredible. It looks as though the Iranians when they said this may be a peaceful nuclear program may have been telling the truth.

Scarborough: If Steven Hadley and Condoleezza Rice and Gates and all of these other people knew then while the President was ramping us up to war and talking about the possibility of a World War III and allowing our allies in Europe to climb back on board with America, finally, but allowed him to do that and didn't say anything, do you think they should be fired today?

Buchanan: Look, I'm not going to fire anybody today. I want to find out the entire truth of what these people knew and when they knew it. It suggests to me, Joe, that Gates, the Fallon group and the Pentagon generals and the others basically are against a war and they said this guy is driving us to war, and somebody said let's get this intelligence out and blow a hole in the policy of our administration which is to go towards war. But that raises another question: why is the President and why is Cheney and why are the neocons and why are all the others driving us to war if they knew that Iran had stopped its program four years ago? This is incredible.