Intelligence services to be blamed for WMD failures ( 02 February 2004)

[IndianaGreen]

Bush's decision to ask for an independent inquiry on the WMD claims has pulled the rug from under Blair, and has further discredited the Hutton Report.

Intelligence services to be blamed for WMD failures
By Nigel Morris and David Usborne in New York
02 February 2004

British and American intelligence services look set to share the blame for the spectacular failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

President George Bush is to order a full investigation of US intelligence failures in Iraq, a senior White House official said last night, while politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are preparing to argue that MI6 and the CIA supplied a false picture of Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons stockpile.

An independent commission in Washington will look at the information that the US had before the war last year and what has been discovered since the invasion of Iraq. Tony Blair, who will modify his insistence that the Iraqi dictator possessed WMD, was "aware" of the US position last night, said a spokesman.

Peter Hain, the Leader of the Commons, fuelled speculation yesterday that the intelligence services could eventually be in the British Government's sights. He said: "I saw evidence that was categoric on Saddam possessing chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Now I saw that intelligence evidence, so did the Prime Minister, so did other cabinet ministers. That informed our decision to go to topple him. I think we were right in doing so, but let's wait and see what the jury finds in the end."

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=486966

[Forkboy]

1. Bush....the buck stops everywhere but here.

[HereSince1628]

23. My guess is they've figured out a way to blame WJ Clinton

and an unnamed democratic nominee yet to be determined

[Maccagirl]

2. Mr. S**T, I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Fan...

n/t

[leftchick]

3. Well now, Lets take a good look at that "Intelligence Chain"....

http://motherjones.com/news/feature/2004/01/12_400.html


<The Intelligence Chain
Illustration by Nigel Holmes

Shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon established a secret intelligence unit to build the case against Iraq. The unit's members -- many of whom were recruited from neoconservative think tanks, primarily the American Enterprise Institute and the Project for the New American Century -- funneled faulty information up the chain of command, often all the way to the White House. By early 2002, the unit had been incorporated into the Defense Department's Office of Special Plans.>

[Just Me]

24. Excellent visual!!!!

It indicates that the "faulty intelligence" leads straight to the WH and those "freon neocons"!!!!

I realize that the whistle-blower protections in this country are completely inadequate (which is one of the reasons transparency and accountability in government is also poor). However, surely, if the WH and the neocons shift all fault onto the intelligence community, there will be retaliatory actions.

[legin]

4. A good article posted on another thread

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2003/102203.html

That suggests the problem to be that 'politicisation' by the right wing of intelligence analysis to be the problem.

[IndianaGreen]

5. The politicization of intelligence began in the Reagan Administration

When SOVO, the Soviet desk at CIA, was purged because its analysts did not see the USSR as the dire threat that the Reagan ideologues wanted everyone to believe.

[HereSince1628]

12. I think much earlier even than OSP's predecessor Team B (Ford adm)

If we a so naive that we think that intelligence isn't "interpreted" in terms of its political context, or that what and where the country chooses to dedicate resources to collect information isn't a consequence of politics, then we are just a bunch of kids yammering in a chat room on the web.

[remfan]

16. Ah...Team B...Dick Cheney's toy from his days in the Ford admin

We've come full circle.

[0007]

6. 'Tis an excellent article, rather a little long, but worth reading -

"For his part, the younger George Bush has shown little but disdain for any information that puts his policies or “gut” judgments in a negative light. In that sense, Bush’s thin skin toward contradiction can’t be separated from the White House campaign, beginning in July, to discredit retired Ambassador Joseph Wilson for publicly debunking the Bush administration’s claim that Iraq had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger. That retaliation included the exposure of Wilson’s wife as an undercover CIA officer, an act that is now under FBI investigation as a possible felony."

Is the Consortiumnews a UK news source?

[legin]

10. Looks u.s.

found a "Consortiumnews.com is a product of The Consortium for Independent Journalism, Inc." on the site.

[UpInArms]

17. Consortiumnews is

done by Robert Parry - he was a class A 5-star investigative reporter for Newsweek during Iran-Contra.

[Nay]

7. It's very disappointing that the intelligence agencies involved haven't

done shit to defend themselves yet. What the hell is going on? If THEY can't defend themselves and get the word out, how the heck can an ordinary citizen? Come on, guys, it's your country, too. Supposedly you are patriotic enough to give up your lives for your country -- why not risk a bit of job security for your country??

[justsam]

8. they may lose

more than their jobs if they start talking, they may give up their lives but not a family member, would you trust anyone at the top, anything could happen, hit and run, private plane could go down, if an election can be rigged and a war can be started by the same people, anything is possible.

[DesignGirl]

25. Interview

A few months ago there was an interview, on 60 minutes, with a couple of agency people, I can't remember which group.
They were talking about all the pressure to come up with something, and when Bush mentioned the Niger thing they were laughing because it was so far out of date and false.
Another person from a Nuclear agency in Oak Ridge TN, also talked about all the false information.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. What a whitewash. Our country under Republican administrations is one

big whitewash after the other. Has the media and intelligence agencies completely gone mad? Does this mean that WACO should be blamed on the FBI and not Janet Reno? Shouldn't they apologize for that intelligence failure too?

[dbt]

11. Let bu$hco blame the Intelligence!

This could be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. You can already hear the poor animal's knees creaking under the load.

But Wait. If that intelligence was faulty, on whose watch did it happen?

:freak:
dbt

[quaker bill]

13. Just lovely

So the misadministration and it's collaborators have finally gotten their story straight. It was all the intelligence agencies faults. We are going to have a big and thorough investigation that will produce it's report sometime after the election.

How precious.

[dusty64]

18. Yeah, and if

I'm getting this correctly our regime will control the direction of the committee AND get to appoint its "bipartisan" members. Please tell me I'm wrong here?

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Maybe if Bu$h had a functioning brain

that didn't get bored so easily we wouldn't have invaded another country because of a failure of intelligence?

[KissMyAsscroft]

15. Total Bullshit.

There is so much evidence that Bush was hellbent on going in no matter what, this is easily debunked.

The problem is having a frontrunner like Kerry who cant capitalize on the damn lies in the first place because he drank the kool aid too.

[megatherium]

19. I had a drink too

I was pro-war two years ago; 9/11 really affected me. It took a long time for me to get over that. I was convinced Iraq was behind 9/11 and wanted the war to extend to that country. Of course, we now know that this was neocon/Administration bullshit. By October 02 I was picking up on that fact, and emailed my congressmen to ask them to vote no on the war resolution.

I am concerned that Kerry was too weak to see through or resist the war mongoring. For his part, Kerry claims Bush told him that he needed authorization for war to get the support of the UN and our allies; Kerry says he never expected Bush to launch a unilateral war. But I'll have no trouble voting for Kerry this November, if he is the nominee.

[DoYouEverWonder]

21. I have the same

concerns about Kerry but I will vote for ABB no matter who ABB turns out to be.

Glad to see the scales have fallen from your eyes. Welcome to DU. :hi:

[truthspeaker]

20. Where is the press? OSP was operating in plain sight.

Every public statement made by the Bush admin about Iraq's WMDs and ties to Al Qaeda was debunked before the war even started. While we wait for Congress to investigate the secret intelligence, why isn't the media talking about the "intelligence failures" that were right out in the open?

[chelsea0011]

22. The Press is both lazy and cowardly

It is much easier to carry ad nauseum the Jacko, Bryant, and Jacko stories and speculate wildly about all the scenarios than it is to have to research and report on world stories that have importance to everyone on the planet. The media knows that the public has a short attention span and the ratings won't allow any serious discussions. It is why the arghhhhhhhh scream played so well. It was stupid and unfair for the media to play that 1000 times a day, but it was both funny and short......just what the public wants. Now, if the media could play Bush using the same WMD "lie" 100 times a week, we could watch his numbers drop like a rock. But the media are cowards. There is nothing funny about war even if Bush lied to get us in one.

[Just Me]

26. I completely agree, Feeney2,...

,...and welcome :hi: