Not an intelligence analyst. Not an diplomat. A taxi driver. Tony Blair made the case for Britain to go to war based on the intelligence gathering of a cabbie.

An Iraqi taxi driver may have been the source of the discredited claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, a Tory MP claimed today.

Adam Holloway, a defence specialist, said MI6 obtained information indirectly from a taxi driver who had overheard two Iraqi military commanders talking about Saddam’s weapons.

The 45-minute claim was a key feature of the dossier about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction that was released by Tony Blair in September 2002. Blair published the information to bolster public support for war.

[…]

“But the provenance of this information was never questioned in detail until after the Iraq invasion, when it became apparent that something was wrong. In the end it turned out that the information was not credible, it had originated from an émigré taxi driver on the Iraqi-Jordanian border, who had remembered an overheard a conversation in the back of his cab a full two years earlier.

“Indeed, in the intelligence analyst’s footnote to the report, it was flagged up that part of the report probably describing some missiles that the Iraqi government allegedly possessed was demonstrably untrue. They verifiably did not exist.

“The footnote said it in black and white ink. Despite this glaring factual inaccuracy, which under normal circumstances would have caused the reliability of the intelligence to be seriously questioned, the report was treated as reliable and went on to become one of the central planks of the dodgy dossier.”

via 45-minute WMD claim ‘may have come from an Iraqi taxi driver’ | Politics | guardian.co.uk.

ugh.

Especially gangs of senators.

Democratic senators say they have a tentative deal to drop a government-run insurance option from healthcare legislation.

No further details were immediately available.

via Senators strike tentative deal to drop public option for health insurance | D.C. Now | Los Angeles Times.

Ah well, on to the next one. The 60 votes have got to be here now.

A campaign promise I am glad is being kept.

President Barack Obama’s envoy began a rare trip to North Korea on Tuesday for the highest-level talks with the communist nation in more than a year as a senior U.S. official warned of strong sanctions against Pyongyang unless it rejoins international nuclear talks.

Envoy Stephen Bosworth’s mission is to find out whether North Korea will return to the stalled international talks on ending its nuclear programs after carrying out an atomic test blast in May and quitting the six-nation negotiations.

via Obama envoy flies to NKorea for rare direct talks.

Should be the memoir title for the political consultant who thought the “I guess I am a racist” commercials were a good idea.
Rachel Maddow discuses the ridiculous “I guess I am racist” ad with Melissa Harris-Lacewell.

These breaches have been happening for years and the press has not taken the Secret Service to task for their inability to get presidential security. Its just harder to sweep under the rug because this is the first black president who is relatively young and has a young family and the public is worried about a security lapse that could result in tragedy.

The historical list of perimeter breaches indicates that intruders have reached the president or another person under Secret Service protection eight times since 1980, including the Salihis. Four of the incidents involved the same man.

The summary paints a disturbing picture of how difficult it is to stop determined intruders — often mentally ill — even as it notes that violent or commando-style raids have not occurred, and that terrorists or organized adversaries are unlikely to risk a head-on attack.

Then-Director Brian Stafford commissioned the review in 2001 after the service was humiliated for a third time by the most notorious presidential gate-crasher, Richard C. Weaver, who evaded inauguration security to shake George W. Bush’s hand. Weaver, a California minister, had previously infiltrated a 1991 prayer breakfast attended by then-President George H.W. Bush, and Clinton’s 1997 inaugural luncheon. He approached the younger Bush again at a prayer breakfast in 2003 before being arrested.

“I believe God makes me invisible to the security, undetectable,” Weaver told reporters. The Secret Service concluded that Weaver succeeded by manipulating others to obtain tickets, telling guards he was lost or looking for a restroom, and generally “appearing as [if] you are supposed to be there,” as the Salahis apparently did.

Tightened White House security measures — after the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing, and the Sept. 11, 2001 , terrorist attacks — have reduced the number of intruders able to break through Secret Service protective lines, an agency official said.

But recent presidents have continued to face dangers, particularly overseas. In May 2005, a man outside the presidential security zone threw a live grenade within 100 feet of George W. Bush in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it failed to detonate because it was wrapped too tightly in a handkerchief. In July 2003, a stowaway traveled with the White House press corps without credentials for two days from South Africa to Uganda, causing Air Force One to be searched when the subject claimed on arrest that he had brought weapons.

In 1994, a pilot was killed when he crashed a small plane on the White House grounds, and another man was subdued as he fired 29 rounds from a semiautomatic rifle toward the executive mansion from outside the Pennsylvania Avenue fence.

via Secret Service documents long list of security breaches.

Now remember the campaign? Throngs of people surrounded then Senator Obama at every campaign stop. Good thing we didn’t find out how much was Secret Service slippin’ then?

Also, here is a theory as to why journalists are happy to drag this nonsense about Rogers out (besides this ridiculous use of Executive Privilege by the Obama White House). They aren’t getting their own party time with the President:

For reporters covering President Obama, there’s only one party in town that matters: The White House Holiday Party. It’s a rare opportunity to walk around parts of the White House and meet the president and first lady. In the past, the highlight of the event has been the chance to get your picture taken with the president in the receiving line.

This year, however, the White House seems to be doing things a little differently. The invites went out late – and didn’t include journalists who have been invited in the past. And those who have been invited seem likely to be denied the traditional receiving-line photo.

via W.H. nixes receiving lines? – AMIE PARNES | POLITICO CLICK.

Couple that with the perks and prestige being taken away from print journos as their dinosaur employers die and Rogers being someone that was in Vogue in 2004 from her own swag before we knew she rolled with the future first black President, than you can see where more than little hateration can bubble up. She still should have testified before congress.

Bank of America said late Wednesday it planned to return the entire $45 billion in bailout money it received from the government over the past year.

The move would allow Bank of America, the nation's largest lender, to wriggle free from a variety of government restrictions it has had to abide by, including pay caps for its top executives.

It could also smooth what has been a difficult search for a new chief executive.

[…]

The move, of course, will save Bank of America from having to make any further dividend payments on aid it received from the government. So far this year, the company has paid out $2.54 billion to the Treasury Department.

But exiting TARP won’t come without a cost. The company said it would reduce its fourth-quarter results by $4.1 billion as a result. The company is expected to report a loss of $524 million in the current quarter.

Bank of America noted however, it did not plan to exercise its right to repurchase warrants, or rights to purchase company shares, owned by the government.

via BofA to return $45 billion in bailout money – Dec. 2, 2009.

“Mr. Bernanke has failed at all four core responsibilities of the Federal Reserve,” Sanders concluded. “It’s time for him to go.”

via Release: Sanders Puts Hold on Bernanke – Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont).