[CLUE-Talk] a new note in the usa/iraq tune

[Randy Arabie]

Quoting Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier <jzb at dissociatedpress.net>:

> On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 19:01:51 -0700
> Jeff Cann <j.cann at isuma.org> wrote:
> 
> > Yep - I'm waiting for the hawks to try and explain how David Kay, the Bush
> 
> > Administration's hand-picked replacement for UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix
> 
> > (who they claimed was biased), came to the same conclusion as Blix - i.e.,
> 
> > there are no WMD in Iraq.
> 
> Well, we'll get a lot of "it doesn't really matter that the
> administration [was totally lying about WMD being the rationale for 
> war | was completely incompetent] because Saddam was a bad, bad, bad 
> man."

I was waiting for this.  I was away from the 'puter all weekend, but had heard
the news of Kay last week.

I'm really dissappointed in the Administration's lack of response to this news.
 It has been apparent for months now that there are serious problems with our
intelligence agencies.  The Admin should be reminding everyone that the WMD
issue was only one of numerous issues that lead the the war.

After years of sanctions and inspections we were left with:

1. A very incomplete picture of what was going on in Iraq;
2. Continued deceptions from the Iraqi Regime; and
3. Continued non-compliance from the Iraqi Regime.

Yes, it does appear that Iraq didn't have massive stockpiles of WMD of any sort.
 But, there were still active WMD programs.  Given that, I still believe the war
was justifiable.  I don't think any other course of action would have prevented
the continued redevelopment and production of WMD by the Iraqi regime.

I think the Administration needs to 'fess-up.  Explain why the intelligence
analysts came to the conclusions they did.  Come up with a plan for making our
intelligence agencies better.

For some good reading on what's happened to our intelligence infrastructure over
 the past 20-years and to see why our intelligence in the Muslim world is so
poor read the book by Robert Baer, "See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground
Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism."

I don't buy the notion that this news proves that the Bush Administration was
lying about WMD in Iraq.  Why would they lie about such a thing, knowing full
well that everyone would be chomping at the bit to see these stockpiles of WMD
at the conclusion of the war?

Even the most ardent Bush haters can't possibly believe he and his cronies are
that dumb.

-- 
Allons Rouler!

Randy
http://www.arabie.org/