Another Nail

The decision to go to war in Iraq was made long before March 2003. This has been clear to most level headed people since the damn Iraq drum beat began soon after 9/11. In the years that have followed the Bushes illegal occupation we have had numerous accounts of exactly how determined the administration was to get blood on their hands. Today Murray Waas uncovers more evidence that the Bushes ignored what they were being told by their own intelligence people and went ahead with the war anyway.

Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by the president, Vice President Cheney, and other administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein, according to records and knowledgeable sources.

The first report, delivered to Bush in early October 2002, was a one-page summary of a National Intelligence Estimate that discussed whether Saddam's procurement of high-strength aluminum tubes was for the purpose of developing a nuclear weapon.

Among other things, the report stated that the Energy Department and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research believed that the tubes were "intended for conventional weapons," a view disagreeing with that of other intelligence agencies, including the CIA, which believed that the tubes were intended for a nuclear bomb.
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The second classified report, delivered to Bush in early January 2003, was also a summary of a National Intelligence Estimate, this one focusing on whether Saddam would launch an unprovoked attack on the United States, either directly, or indirectly by working with terrorists.

The report stated that U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that it was unlikely that Saddam would try to attack the United States -- except if "ongoing military operations risked the imminent demise of his regime" or if he intended to "extract revenge" for such an assault, according to records and sources.

Personally, I have always wondered if the president was also spoon fed the slanted intelligence that was served to the Congress, the media, and the American people. I guess I no longer have to wonder. It is clear now that Bush was cheerleading right along side Cheney the whole way, while explicitly knowing that lies were being spun. Disagreeable intelligence was ignored. Agreeable intelligence was massaged to fit their predetermined aims. The really sad part is that this is not new news and yet still nothing has been done about it.

Read more, this is not extra credit, and yes, it will be on the final exam.