D. Cupples | The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is about to release a "detailed critique" of the Bush Administrations claims during the lead up to the Iraq war. The Los Angeles Times reports:
"The long-delayed document catalogs dozens of prewar assertions by President Bush and other administration officials that proved to be wildly inaccurate about Iraq's alleged stockpiles of banned weapons and pursuit of nuclear arms.
"But officials say the report reaches a mixed verdict on the key question of whether the White House misused intelligence to make the case for war.
"The document criticizes White House officials for making assertions that failed to reflect disagreements or uncertainties in the underlying intelligence on Iraq, officials said. But the report acknowledges that many claims were consistent with intelligence assessments in circulation at the time.
"Because of the nuanced nature of the conclusions, one congressional official familiar with the document said: "The left is not going to be happy. The right is not going to be happy. Nobody is going to be happy." (LA Times)
When a public official refers to colleagues as "The left," we can expect some strategic ignoring of facts will follow.
Fact: intelligence-gathering agencies (like the CIA) are part of the Executive Branch. The President appoints their heads and can ask for their resignations.
Fact: intelligence-gathering agencies (which answer to the President) presented information to the President, who presented edited information to Congress before the Iraq invasion.
That said, it seems likely that many on "The Left" could validly argue that the Executive Branch misled them regarding the pre-war intelligence on which "The Left" based its votes on the Iraq war.
Memeorandum has commentary: PrairiePundit, TPMMuckraker and Emptywheel.
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