Apparently, it looks like Hillary Clinton did not read the pre-war intell report before voting on the war resolution. She was "briefed".
Amanda B. Carpenter reports:
In November 2005 I interviewed a number of U.S. senators to see if they had read the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a document put together by the intelligence community that President Bush used to justify the war in Iraq.
The Washington Post had reported earlier that only six senators had read the document before voting to authorize the President to use force in Iraq in October 2002. Among those who I found had not read the NIE were then-Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid. (D.-Nev.).
Now, it looks like Hillary Clinton didn’t read it either. At a campaign stop in Hampton, New Hamphsire Clinton was asked by if she had read the report.
Hillary did not say she did. Instead, she said she was "briefed." The news report about this from ABC news said the woman who asked Clinton if she had read it repeated her question, "Did you read it?" about three times. Each time, Hillary would only say she had been briefed.
On the campaign trail for the Democrat nomination for president Hillary has said that President Bush has "misused her vote" and that if she had been president in 2002 she would not have gone to war.
Terry Jeffrey has a great story explaining the importance of the 2002 NIE here.
Hat tip: Matt Lewis
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
As I recall, no one was surprised when Chauncey Gardiner said he didn’t read. They assumed he got briefed. Important people like politicians don’t have time to read. They are too busy raising money for their re-election campaign. Often, it appears they don’t even have time to think. Does anyone think that any legislator has actually read the tax bills they pass?