Ray McGovern Lied About Rumsfeld

Here's a little background primer. Ray McGovern is a former CIA member with 27 years of experience. You probably already heard that, because every liberal website wants you to know that.
What they probably haven't told you is that he has been out of the intelligence business since the early 90's. Instead, he joined one peacenik group and created a second. His is called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, or VIPs for short.

I wanted to try to skip over the part where I make fun of someone who calls their organization VIPs. But you can't. For God's sakes, he calls his group VIPs. What does that say about his ego? His maturity? His inflated self-opinion?

Of course, the real point is 'was he right?'
Rumsfeld was speaking in Atlanta on May 3rd at the Southern Center for International Studies, when McGovern took him on in this exchange (Relevant parts bolded):

RAY MCGOVERN: I'm Ray McGovern, a 27-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency and co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. (Light laughter.) I would like to compliment you on your observation that lies are fundamentally destructive of the trust that government needs to govern. A colleague of mine, Paul Pillar, who is the top agency analyst on the Middle East and on counterterrorism accused you and your colleagues of an organized campaign of manipulation, quote, "I suppose by some definition" --

SEC. RUMSFELD: Could you get to your question, please?

MR. MCGOVERN: -- that's been called a lie.

Atlanta, September 27th, 2002, Donald Rumsfeld said, and I quote, "There is bullet-proof evidence of links between al Qaeda and the government of President Saddam Hussein."

Was that a lie, Mr. Rumsfeld, or was that manufactured somewhere else, because all of my CIA colleagues disputed that and so did the 9/11 commission. And so I would like to ask you to be up front with the American people. Why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary and that has caused these kinds of casualties?

AUDIENCE: (Booing.)

MR. MCGOVERN: Why?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Well, first of all, I haven't lied. I did not lie then -- (applause). Colin Powell didn't lie. He spent weeks and weeks with the Central Intelligence Agency people and prepared a presentation that I know he believed was accurate, and he presented that to the United Nations. The president spent weeks and weeks with the Central Intelligence people, and he went to the American people and made a presentation. I'm not in the intelligence business. They gave the world their honest opinions. It appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there.

MR. MCGOVERN: You said you knew where they were.

SEC. RUMSFELD: I did not. I said I knew where suspect sites were, and we were --

MR. MCGOVERN: You said -- you said you knew where they were near Tikrit, near Baghdad and northeast, south and west of there. Those are your words.

SEC. RUMSFELD: My words -- my words were that -- no, no, no. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Let him stay one second -- just a second. (Referring to security removing Ray McGovern from the press conference.)

MR. MCGOVERN: This is America, huh?

Do you think McGovern wanted honesty?
Did Rumsefeld say that he knew exactly where the weapons were to bring us to war? Did he say that they were in Tikrit, Baghdad, etc?

Here is the exchange from This Week With George Stephanopolous, March 30th 2003.
Note the date. The war was already under way.
So for McGovern to suggest that Rumsfeld said that he knew exactly where the WMDs were, as a justification for war, is a lie.
But let's move on...

SEC. RUMSFELD: Not at all. If you think -- let me take that, both pieces -- the area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

Second, the [audio glitch] facilities, there are dozens of them, it's a large geographic area. It is the -- Answar Al-Islam group has killed a lot of Kurds. They are tough. And our forces are currently in there with the Kurdish forces, cleaning the area out, tracking them down, killing them or capturing them and they will then begin the site exploitation. The idea, from your question, that you can attack that place and exploit it and find out what's there in fifteen minutes.

I would also add, we saw from the air that there were dozens of trucks that went into that facility after the existence of it became public in the press and they moved things out. They dispersed them and took them away. So there may be nothing left. I don't know that. But it's way too soon to know. The exploitation is just starting.

So how is it that McGovern noted the first part of Rumsfeld's statements, but not the second?
How is it that McGovern noted where Rumsfeld said the WMDs would be, but he missed the caveat where Rumsfeld said that they might not be there anymore?

Why is McGovern quoting Rumsfeld's comments during the war as an example of what Rumsfeld said to justify going to war?
Is McGovern a liar? Or did he just a victim of bad intelligence?

-John