An interesting analysis of the CIA's work in pre-war Iraq

[Theophylact]

by Kevin Drum (Calpundit). Bottom line:

So here's my question: if all this stuff is actually true, it seems hardly believable that we didn't know the true extent of Iraq's WMD programs and stockpiles, does it? Which means that we're left with an unappealing menu of choices:

• The CIA is blowing smoke. Their infiltration was actually pretty ineffective.

• Their infiltration was as good as they say it was. This implies that they knew perfectly well that the administration's WMD claims were vastly overblown, but didn't say anything.

• Their infiltration was good, they had solid intelligence about the existence of WMD, but despite all this the WMD somehow got moved out of Iraq without them knowing about it.

I'm not sure which of these choices scares me more.

[ClubMed]

It never was about WMD's, so it's a waste of time discussing this any further than we already have on the forum IMO.

[Mr. Goodbytes]

You're absolutely right CM, it was so Bush could make his buddies rich and get a lot of oil. Hell, if it were all about oil that we wanted so bad, we could have just declared victory in Kuwait. Honestly, we could have declared one day that Kuwait was now a US Protectorate and have been done with it all.

Maybe we should go after the terrorists in Syria and Lebanon next. Lord knows there's a bunch of them there. But how then could someone say that is all about oil. Is there even oil in Syria? (besides black market oil)

[J-Excel]

Saddam was a WMD.

[John Prophet]

CIA uses false intelligence.
Bush and all other presidents use false intelligence.
Media wants a story...they bend things for drama.
People believe what they want to believe.

Cia lies to Bush, who lies to the media, who lies to you.

A republican sees one thing, A democrat standing right beside the Republican sees the opposite. Their own minds twist what they see because of bias..and on top of that they lie for their own/party purposes.

Lots of angles there to consider.

A few actors become politicians....all politicians are actors.


And lastly..face it...we (America, where I live) are a society that...if we are honest..WE DONT WANT TO HEAR THE TRUTH. Period.

Its all bent, why even invest brain power listening to the news, lol.

JP

[shahani]

Like, what JP says.

Invest brainpower in building computers.

But, yeah, Bush had a lot on his agenda when invading Iraq and WMD was just a lame excuse.

It was all about oil and contracts for his buddies in the Administration. We will see how voters react next year.