Monday, March 06, 2006
NATIONAL JOURNAL: What Bush Was Told About Iraq (03/02/2006)
NATIONAL JOURNAL: What Bush Was Told About Iraq (03/02/2006)
We recently delved into what Bush was told about Katrina, before it hit New Orleans, now Murray Wass, of the National Journal has penned an article that discusses what Bush was told before we invaded Iraq. In both the case of Katrina and Iraq, the Bush administration's response was stunningly similar.
Prior to our invasion of Iraq, there were two highly classified intelligence reports that questioned many of the statements that the administration was making publically.
The first report was a one-page summary of the National Intelligence Estimate ("NIE"). That summary discussed the aluminum tubes that the adminstration identified as compelling evidence of Saddam's Hussein's nuclear weapons program. The administration claimed that the aluminum tubes were purchased to advance Saddam's nuclear weapons program and had no other use:
We later found out that there was a sharp debate between the Department of Energy and State Department over this issue. What is significant about this story is this, until now there was no evidence that the President was aware of this internal policy debate. It now seems clear that he was.
The second report was also a summary of the NIE. In this report the intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that it was unlikely that Saddam would try to attack the United States, except if Saddam's regime was at risk from ongoing US operations. The only level of dissent came from the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, which believed that it was unliekly that Saddam would conduct clandestine attacks against the United States even if his regime's demise was imminent. The significance of this report? We now know that Bush was informed of this as well before he ordered us to invade.
For those who believe that Katrina spelled out something new, these reports suggest that Katrina was yet another example of business as ususal.
We recently delved into what Bush was told about Katrina, before it hit New Orleans, now Murray Wass, of the National Journal has penned an article that discusses what Bush was told before we invaded Iraq. In both the case of Katrina and Iraq, the Bush administration's response was stunningly similar.
Prior to our invasion of Iraq, there were two highly classified intelligence reports that questioned many of the statements that the administration was making publically.
The first report was a one-page summary of the National Intelligence Estimate ("NIE"). That summary discussed the aluminum tubes that the adminstration identified as compelling evidence of Saddam's Hussein's nuclear weapons program. The administration claimed that the aluminum tubes were purchased to advance Saddam's nuclear weapons program and had no other use:
RICE: You will get different estimates about precisely how close he is. We do
know that he is actively pursuing a nuclear weapon. We do know that there have
been shipments going into Iran, for instance—into Iraq, for instance, of
aluminum tubes that really are only suited to—high-quality aluminum tools that
are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs, centrifuge programs.
We later found out that there was a sharp debate between the Department of Energy and State Department over this issue. What is significant about this story is this, until now there was no evidence that the President was aware of this internal policy debate. It now seems clear that he was.
The second report was also a summary of the NIE. In this report the intelligence agencies unanimously agreed that it was unlikely that Saddam would try to attack the United States, except if Saddam's regime was at risk from ongoing US operations. The only level of dissent came from the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, which believed that it was unliekly that Saddam would conduct clandestine attacks against the United States even if his regime's demise was imminent. The significance of this report? We now know that Bush was informed of this as well before he ordered us to invade.
For those who believe that Katrina spelled out something new, these reports suggest that Katrina was yet another example of business as ususal.
# posted by Strange Anomaly : 1:04 PM
