February 02, 2004

Pressure builds for Bush decision on Iraq WMD probe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and key congressional leaders on Sunday negotiated details of an independent commission to investigate intelligence failures before the Iraq war and a senior Democrat said the probe should include whether decision-makers misused information. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive.
posted by Sullivan 20 years ago
  • I understand Lord Hutton is available.
  • It's about time.
  • InstaPundit, conservatives, and Republicans will try to blame this on the intelligence community. >The blame should go to the White House. The director of the Special Plans operation is Abram Shulsky, a scholarly expert in the works of the political philosopher Leo Strauss. Shulsky has been quietly working on intelligence and foreign-policy issues for three decades; he was on the staff of the Senate Intelligence Com-mittee in the early nineteen-eighties and served in the Pentagon under Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle during the Reagan Administration, after which he joined the Rand Corporation. The Office of Special Plans is overseen by Under-Secretary of Defense William Luti, a retired Navy captain. Luti was an early advocate of military action against Iraq, and, as the Administration moved toward war and policymaking power shifted toward the civilians in the Pentagon, he took on increasingly important responsibilities. W. Patrick Lang, the former chief of Middle East intelligence at the D.I.A., said,
  • In related news, US/UK knew (atleast) in May that there were no WMD to be found.
  • Thanks for posting that Seymour Hersh article, Sullivan. Read it several months back when it was on metafilter, meant to file it away for future reference, then couldn't rememeber where I'd put it. I think what it describes is what Lord Hutton would probably call 'possible subconcious influence', or something. I look forward to these fully independent and wide-ranging inquiries, and fully expect them to uncover the truth, whatever the cost. As a natural corollary of that, should they, perchance, in their wisdom completely clear the Bush and Blair administrations of any wrongdoing, I shall accept these findings and shall no longer criticise the decision to wage war. Furthermore, I will then acknowledge the presence of a vast WMD arsenal in Iraq, and shall consequently ensure I'm never more than 45 minutes away from a convenient nuclear bunker, equipped with a sturdy tinfoil hat. I'm in a sarcastic me-space today, I'll admit.
  • The comparison to the Hutton inquiry will likely prove very apt: while the mandate of the Hutton iinquiry was to be strictly the death of an individual, Hutton felt free to roam into criticism (of the BBC) and exoneration (of the ruling party) well outside the terms of reference. Moreover, Hutton found the main allegation made by the BBC - namely, that Tony Blair's political operatives had interefered in the preparation of intelligence material for political purposes - but dismissed it as being acceptable behaviour. Note also that it any investigation is likely scheduled to report back after the election; thereafter, complaints about the issue will be dismissed with the assertion that it's under investigation, burying it until it can't to any harm to Bush's re-election chances.
  • InstaPundit has found the WMD. They are in Syria!
  • That's odd, I thought they were in Texas.
  • I blogged an entry recently about Bush shutting down the commission. Lot of links in there worth checking out. If you are on a Mac my journal will look like dog doo doo. It's bad. Even Tom Kean has gotten sick of the stalling and he was in Bush's corner.
  • Bush 2004 campaign pledges to restore honor and dignity to the White House. Ah, the bitter juvenile impotent tastiness of sarcasm. Except ... er ... um ...