Friday, January 30, 2004
No Evidence CIA Slanted Iraq Data (washingtonpost.com)
No Evidence CIA Slanted Iraq Data (washingtonpost.com): "Congressional and CIA investigations into the prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons and links to terrorism have found no evidence that CIA analysts colored their judgment because of perceived or actual political pressure from White House officials, according to intelligence officials and congressional officials from both parties."
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""There was pressure and a lot of debate, and people should have a lot of debate, that's quite legitimate," Kerr said. "But the bottom line is, over a period of several years," the analysts' assessments "were very consistent. They didn't change their views.""
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"The conclusion that analysts did not buckle under political pressure does not answer the question of why the intelligence reports were so flawed. Nor does it address allegations -- made by Democrats in Congress and Democratic presidential candidates -- that top Bush administration officials misused intelligence and exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq."
It is very good news for Bush that a major paper is reporting this story. The two questions that WP says aren't answered have several possible and plausibly likely solutions, found discussed here and here. Now Bush needs to go on the offensive and let it be known that he was acting in the best interest of America in the world (see VDH).
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""There was pressure and a lot of debate, and people should have a lot of debate, that's quite legitimate," Kerr said. "But the bottom line is, over a period of several years," the analysts' assessments "were very consistent. They didn't change their views.""
...
"The conclusion that analysts did not buckle under political pressure does not answer the question of why the intelligence reports were so flawed. Nor does it address allegations -- made by Democrats in Congress and Democratic presidential candidates -- that top Bush administration officials misused intelligence and exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq."
It is very good news for Bush that a major paper is reporting this story. The two questions that WP says aren't answered have several possible and plausibly likely solutions, found discussed here and here. Now Bush needs to go on the offensive and let it be known that he was acting in the best interest of America in the world (see VDH).
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