On September 14, 2003, Vice President Dick Cheney appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press to discuss the faulty pre-war evidence on Iraq. Here was Cheney’s response on the question of whether Iraq was trying to acquire uranium:

I guess the intriguing thing, Tim, on the whole thing, this question of whether or not the Iraqis were trying to acquire uranium in Africa. …. I don’t know what the truth is on the ground with respect to that. [Meet the Press, 9/14/03]

Today, Murray Waas, writing in the National Journal, reveals Cheney’s false pretense. Three months before he appeared on Meet the Press, Cheney and his chief of staff Scooter Libby were personally presented a memo by CIA Director George Tenet that debunked the uranium acquisition theory:

CIA analysts wrote then-CIA Director George Tenet in a highly classified memo on June 17, 2003, “We no longer believe there is sufficient” credible information to “conclude that Iraq pursued uranium from abroad.” The memo was titled: “In Response to Your Questions for Our Current Assessment and Additional Details on Iraq’s Alleged Pursuits of Uranium From Abroad.”

So, three months after receiving a memo from the CIA informing him Iraq was not purchasing uranium, Cheney went before a national televised audience and refused to tell the truth about what he knew. All this coming from a man who said, “The suggestion that’s been made by some U.S. senators that the President of the United States or any member of this administration purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.”

Feingold to Bush: “Stop the power grab, stop the politics, stop breaking the law.”

Additional funding for operations in Iraq requested by the Bush administration. Congress has already approved $350 billion in funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Via HuffPost)

The Guardian reports a newly-disclosed British memo provides evidence that Bush had made up his mind to attack Iraq almost two months prior to the war:

A memo of a two-hour meeting between the two leaders at the White House on January 31 2003 – nearly two months before the invasion – reveals that Mr Bush made it clear the US intended to invade whether or not there was a second resolution and even if UN inspectors found no evidence of a banned Iraqi weapons programme.

The new revelations demonstrate that Bush was deceiving the American public about his intentions in the lead-up to the war. On numerous occasions, Bush claimed he had not made up his mind to attack Iraq:

I’ve not made up our mind about military action. Hopefully, this can be done peacefully. [3/6/03]

We are doing everything we can to avoid war in Iraq. But if Saddam Hussein does not disarm peacefully, he will be disarmed by force. [3/8/03]

Should Saddam Hussein choose confrontation, the American people can know that every measure has been taken to avoid war, and every measure will be taken to win it. [3/17/03]

This is just further proof that you can’t take literally what comes out of Bush’s mouth.

Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) sent a letter yesterday to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, questioning him on what he knew about the ties between Jack Abramoff and Timothy Flanigan a former White House lawyer, who withdrew his nomination to be deputy attorney general last October.

The letter was in response to recent revelations that Safavian, Abramoff, and Flanigan traded insider information. David Safavian, the indicted former chief of staff of the General Service Administration (GSA), provided “confidential information to lobbyist Jack Abramoff about GSA’s decision to suspend Tyco International’s federal contracts.” Abramoff then passed this information on to Tyco and Flanigan (who was then at Tyco), contacted GSA, which “subsequently decided not to suspend Tyco’s federal contracts.”

Think Progress has posted a copy of the letter here.

Durbin and Leahy pointedly ask Gonzales seven questions about what he and other administration officials knew about Flanigan’s ties to Abramoff. More interestingly, they ask why nothing has been done. Some of the questions:

The letter raises the prospect that Gonzales and the Justice Department have been obstructing this portion of the Abramoff investigation because of their ties to Flanigan.

More here on Abramoff, Flanigan, and Safavian.

Conservatives turn over a new (tobacco) leaf. [UPDATE: The Hill has more on the vote, and more on Boehner's ties to lobbyists.]

– Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), asked at a press conference yesterday, “I was wondering if you could react to…” The Russert legacy. (HT: Hotline)

The House leadership election to replace Tom DeLay has run into some problems. Apparently more ballots were cast than there are members. They’re re-voting now.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert held a conference call yesterday with the oil industry’s top trade association, one day after Exxon posted a record $10 billion quarterly profit. According to his spokesman, Hastert pressed executives on lowering energy costs:

Hastert inquired about industry efforts “to create a stable supply of energy that will lower oil and home heating costs,” Hastert’s spokesman said. “What he wanted to convey to the [trade association] is making a profit is just fine … at the same time, though, American families have a bottom line to meet.”

The call, which lasted all of 10 minutes, probably didn’t make much headway. Here was Hastert’s big idea:

Hastert reiterated a request he made to ExxonMobil last year to take some profit “and use it to communicate to the American public about what [oil companies] are doing,” his spokesman said.

In other words, the solution to Americans’ anger over high gas prices is not to actually lower prices, but to get oil companies to spread more propaganda about why high prices are “just the marketplace at work.”