Book criticial of White House hits stores
GOP labels tome by key Democrat 'bizarre theories'
Frank Davies
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Sept. 8, 2004 12:00 AM
WASHINGTON - Sen. Bob Graham's book on U.S. intelligence failures hit bookstores Tuesday and quickly became a hot issue in the presidential campaign.
The Florida Democrat hammered President Bush for the Iraq war and the Sept. 11 investigation, while the Republican National Committee derided Graham's "bizarre conspiracy theories" and his credibility.
In a conference call arranged by John Kerry's campaign, Graham emphasized one of the major assertions in his book, Intelligence Matters: that the Bush administration blocked and covered up a thorough congressional investigation into Saudi Arabian involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
On Iraq, Graham said Vice President Dick Cheney "intimidated" the CIA into overestimating the threat from Saddam Hussein while downplaying the fact that "the intelligence was fundamentally weak, and we were totally reliant on foreign sources and exiles."
"Rather than speak truth to power, they were speaking what they (Bush officials) wanted to hear."
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