The View from the Meadow

Observations of the Passing Scene

Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre

Bush’s Intelligence Blamed for Failure in Iraq

Spin Attempts Shift Blame for Lack of WMDs
to Intelligence Agencies

Bush’s attempts to shift the blame for his attack against Iraq to the country’s intelligence agencies is an act of desperation. The misguided pre-emptive attack on Iraq is symptomatic of the real problems with the Bush Administration --- these people were apparently blinded by an all-consuming ambition to start another war, even before the one in Afghanistan was successfully completed. There was no real justification for this attack and the effort is proving to be the downfall of this ridiculous Regime.

Lack of intelligence is a major problem with the Bush Administration. It isn’t just the deterioration of the country’s intelligence agencies, although there is ample evidence that this is, indeed, the case. Bush lacks sufficient intelligence to handle the presidency. He also lacks the experience to handle the job.

This president does not understand international relations, his actual military experience is a mockery and he actually appears uninterested in such matters. The Bush quote, “There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a gathering threat to America and others” is meaningless drivel when viewed in this light.

This is not a great mind. Although his spin controllers continuously attempt to make it look like he is a good decision maker, Bush is completely at the mercy of his advisors – who have a hidden agenda. The man is merely a puppet for the behind-the-scenes people who placed him in the presidency in order to gain control in Washington.

Despite the continuous lies and propaganda that spewed from the White House in the pre-Iraq-War period, the rest of the world, except for Great Britain, questioned the veiled excuses for the pre-emptive strike against Saddam. The Bush Regime used Americans’ patriotism and the world’s sympathy following the 9-11 terrorist attacks as a lever to justify the war against Iraq. They squandered an opportunity to pull the world together in the effort to combat terrorism and instead alienated most of the globe, including most of our staunchest allies, with this misguided scheme.

Claiming Saddam and Iraq were involved with Bin Ladden and Al Qaeda in the 9-11 attacks was an outright lie. The Bush administration pressured the CIA to provide evidence of a close relationship between Saddam and Bin Ladden, but the agency did not find any proof to substantiate the claim.

Bush’s claims of imminent threat from WMDs have also proven false. We now know what we should have known then --- there are no WMDs in Iraq. Chief weapons Inspector David Kay has announced that he does not believe Iraq had stockpiles of unconventional weapons and had no significant programs to build them. The Administration purposely distorted intelligence reports and outright ignored many warnings from the intelligence community in their fervor to start this war.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had the audacity to flatly state that the WMDs existed when he addressed the United Nations while promoting the attack of Iraq, now acknowledges that “the administration could be wrong” and currently claims it’s “an open question.”

The Administration purposely distorted intelligence reports and outright ignored many warnings from the intelligence community in their fervor to start this war. US intelligence agencies warned Bush administration policy-makers before the war in Iraq that there would be significant armed opposition to a US-led occupation, according to administration and congressional sources familiar with the reports. "Intelligence reports told them at some length about possibilities for unpleasantness," said a senior administration official.

When Bush claimed that Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction constituted an imminent threat to the US and the world, the intelligence agencies were telling him that these claims were not true and should not be included in his State of the Union speech. CIA Director George Tenet has flatly stated that his agency “never said there was an imminent threat” from Saddam Hussein.

The promise of a short war in which few casualties would be sustained was the most thoughtless lie of them all. Estimates of a few days to no more than a few weeks were based on erroneous information from cronies, not the intelligence or military agencies. The US has now sustained over 500 deathsand we are fast approaching the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

The Bush Regime also promised that American troops would be welcomed with open arms by the liberated people of Iraq. We all know the reality of that lie. Senior policy-makers at the White House, Pentagon and elsewhere received classified analyses before the war that warned of the dangers of the postwar period. There have been many reports that say the Bush Regime pressured US intelligence agencies to exaggerate the case against Iraq.

In essence, the Bush Regime attacked a country that was currently in compliance with UN restrictions and under continuous UN investigation. This in turn alienated many other countries that constitute a far greater threat to the peace and safety of the rest of the world. Bush’s threatening foreign policies pressured North Korea, which had signed a nuclear non-proliferation agreement, to abandon that agreement and resume its nuclear weapons program.

At the time the Regime was pushing for an invasion of Iraq the country had been relatively quiet for a decade. Iraq was militarily and economically depressed from the restrictions in place since the Gulf War and Saddam was more concerned with threats from his powerful neighbors than he was in conquering the rest of the world.

The Bush Regime is now attempting to shift the blame for this disastrous war to the nation’s intelligence agencies, claiming he was the victim of bad intelligence. His critics claim he deliberately distorted intelligence information in his fervor to build support for the war.

The push to invade Iraq was never based on solid thinking. It was a matter of implementing a plan formulated long ago by the pack of weasels currently controlling the White House. The Regime’s plans include a series of pre-emptive attacks against several countries, in particular the “Axis of Evil” detailed in the early days of the Bush White House. Other possible ulterior motives of the Regime include control of the oil resources of Iraq and the financial windfall of government contracts awarded to the administration’s cronies for rebuilding the country after we destroyed it.

There is also the consideration that Bush the Elder’s failure to close the Saddam issue at the end of the Gulf War has remained a contentious issue and is viewed as a major policy failure of his tenure in the White House.

The concept that this current war is part of a contrived effort to keep the focus of attention away from corruption in the White House is also worthy of consideration. Bush’s chief advisors include quite a few people with questionable backgrounds, including corrupt business practices and connections with Enron, that deserve intense scrutiny by the government and the media.

This Regime is actually employing many of the tactics of the Communists and Nazis by keeping the population in an unsettled, continuously worried state of mind. The threat of war has enabled them to curtail fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution and secured by the sacrifices of countless fighting men and women over the years.

This Regime is noted for stacking such commissions with people who are most likely to side with the administration on an issue. The commission investigating accusations that Bush received intelligence reports prior to 9-11, warning of potential terrorist attacks from the air, is a good example of this. It will be interesting to watch and see whether Bush will refuse access to White House papers related to the intelligence investigation; he is still refusing to release similar records to the 9-11 commission.

The Democrats originally demanded the investigation into the allegations of failures on the part of the nation’s intelligence agencies because it is obvious that the Bush Regime misrepresented the agencies’ advice. Bush is now attempting to claim this issue as his own by appointing a presidential commission himself, but it is primarily an attempt to shift the blame for his own mistakes to the intelligence agencies.

Bush’s attempt to claim this issue is a typical technique employed by his primary advisor, the insidious Karl Rove. Throughout the current presidential election campaign Bush can be expected to identify the issues that are of primary importance to voters and then claim them as his own. He was successful with this ploy in his first campaign. It does not reflect the truth or the Regime’s actual plans.

This war had nothing to do with the War on Terrorism. Not only did it fail to address that issue, it had the effect of throwing kerosene on the fire; there are more people that hate America than ever before and the terrorists are having no trouble in recruiting new members to their cause. Peace has not been the result in the Middle East and America is not only no safer than it was prior to 9-11, it is in even greater danger.

Capturing Saddam does not justify the pre-emptive strike. Hopefully, the Iraqi people will be better off without him, once they are able to establish another government, but this is not going to happen in the near future. Saddam was definitely an evil dictator and guilty of countless crimes against humanity, but he was not a current threat to the rest of the world.

Our president continues to make statements like, “knowing what I know today, America did the right thing in Iraq.” Try telling that to the families, friends and neighbors of the more than 500 Americans and thousands of Iraqis that have died because of the Bush Regime’s hysterical demand for war.

There are many more leaders in this world that constitute a far greater threat to America and world peace than Saddam. We cannot attack them all, it is immoral, it is against the rule of international law and such pre-emptive attacks are unjustifiable. We also cannot afford to fight them all, our military is already showing signs that it is over-extended. We are increasingly vulnerable to attack all over the world while we focus all of our efforts in Iraq.

This was no mere failure of intelligence. This was a failure of the White House! The administration failed to be honest with the American people, deliberately choosing and emphasizing information the president’s advisers - or at least some among them - knew to be inaccurate or unsubstantiated.

If Bush is re-elected, what other countries are going to suffer the wrath of this administration? And how much more will the American people suffer under this misguided Regime?

Saddam did not pose an actual threat of mass destruction. We are the saber rattlers. If you look around the world, it is easy to see that the US is the country that is threatening the use of WMDs. We are the ones failing to rule out the use of nuclear weapons and the Regime is pushing for the development of more such weapons. At a time when the world needs a good example we are turning into bullies.

Meanwhile, Americans are still dying in Iraq and the apparent prognosis shows they will be in the country for a very long time.

We need a regime change alright --- in the White House!

IRAQ CAUALTIES

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We Need a Regime Change --- in Washington