Bush and his cultlike defenders will claim that the intelligence that pushed the public in favor of war was not cooked, but the evidence continually says otherwise.
Intelligence provided by former undersecretary of defense Douglas J. Feith to buttress the White House case for invading Iraq included “reporting of dubious quality or reliability” that supported the political views of senior administration officials rather than the conclusions of the intelligence community, according to a report by the Pentagon’s inspector general.
Feith’s office “was predisposed to finding a significant relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda,” according to portions of the report, released yesterday by Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.). The inspector general described Feith’s activities as “an alternative intelligence assessment process.”
Hmm. According to “portions” released by a partisan Democrat. And what we are talking about is an intra DOD assessment of DOD reporting – wherein Feith’s report is acknowledged as an alternative process. So Bush dared to listen to alternative views. He considered multiple options and viewed different intelligent estimates. Why, the nerve of the man!
So Bush dared to listen to alternative views. He considered multiple options and viewed different intelligent estimates…
and then came to his forgone conclusion.
Feith’s report is acknowledged as an alternative process. in an alternate universe.
Good call, Dugger. Thank goodness we have a straight-shooting Leader who isn’t bogged down by brainiac wonkery (I mean can you imagine a Gore as prez? He might not even have invaded Iraq, he no-brainer of the century!). Bush actually sought alternative views–which weren’t intelligence based. You can’t get any more alternative than that you stupid liberals.
Also, it’s worth noting that Mr. Feith didn’t really believe in what he was presenting. Or at least that’s what he says now. Wise man. Maybe General Tommy Franks could add more.
How interesting.
When I click the link, I get this:
Bush actually sought alternative views–which weren’t intelligence based.
ROFL
I guess they had to bump up the truthiness.
It’s been common knowledge for almost two years that Bush wanted the war and wasn’t looking for intelligence but exuses.
Somehow conventional wisdom has come to the conclusion that those memos are TEH CONSPIRACY!!! LOLOLOL!
I wonder how that happened.
A good recap here:
http://tbogg.blogspot.com/2007/02/i-started-war-which-started-whole-world.html
Here’s Mensa candidate Feith from a newspaper story. It’s not like he broke the law (e.g., lied about a blowjob) or anything. Sheesh. What’s the big deal?
” In a telephone interview yesterday, Feith emphasized the inspector general’s conclusion that his actions, described in the report as “inappropriate,” were not unlawful. “This was not ‘alternative intelligence assessment,’ ” he said. “It was from the start a criticism of the consensus of the intelligence community, and in presenting it I was not endorsing its substance.” “
Hmm. According to “portions” released by a partisan Democrat.
Hunh? What are you talking about? The way I read the article, the report went to the entire Senate Armed Services Committee and they all took a crack at commenting on it.
Feith providing cooked intel? I’ll have to file that in my NO SHIT folder.
Shocked, I tell you! I am shocked that there is gambling taking place on these premises!
Believe what you want. Feith did an alternative assessment -a contrarian view. I fail to see any problem. I would always want to see all alternatives. “What is another possibility?”
Quaker, Are you disputing Levin is partisan or that he released portions of it (which the articel says).
I agreee with the take that Democrats who voted for war are desparately looking for some exciuse to cover a vote they now regret. I believe they are equally as well informed on global warming.
“We may be stupid, but at least we will admit it.”
pedugger, do you occasionally fall asleep while you’re typing?
Democrats aren’t desperately looking for excuses, Dugger is. Bush cooked the books — he dishonestly advanced dubious information. Now would be a good time for that list of Bush claims that turned out to be true, Dugger. Get to work.
I fail to see any problem. I would always want to see all alternatives. “What is another possibility?”
Yup. You nailed it again, Dugger. And that’s why our brilliant, outside-the-box thinking Leader is so great. Like when he got that 6 August 2001 PDB. Some wonky brainiac like Gore/Kerry would have “analyzed” it and asked intelligence-based questions. Not our Bush. He went fishing.
But I have to disagree with you about seeing all alternatives. I, for one, am glad that Leader dismissed outright the calls for the left-wing weapons inspectors to “do their jobs” or loopy hippies who didn’t even want to invade, claiming that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. Those weren’t alternatives worth pursuing, that’s for sure. Thank god those whack jobs were dismissed. Think how much lsss safe the U.S. and the rest of the world would be.
All day I’ve seen conservatives saying “oh gee, you’d think liberals would want Bush to have weighed all the options…taken into account alternative views…contrarian if you will…yadda, yadda, yadda.
Oh stop it. We know now the intelligence community could not say for sure there was a connection between Iraq and al Qaeda. But this didn’t fit the picture Bush and Company was painting did it?
Bush and others weren’t looking for an alternative assessment to balance out their judgment. They were looking for a contrarian view to justify their insane plan. Feith gave them it.
The facts were being fixed around the evidence, not the other way around.
Quaker, Are you disputing Levin is partisan or that he released portions of it (which the articel says).
I’m looking for the “he released portions” part. As I posted above, when I click the link, it looks as though WaPo has pulled the story.
When I check other links on the topic, I don’t see it.
At any rate, the executive summary of the report is posted at the IG’s website.
No WMD’s.
No Al Qaeda ties.
No cakewalk.
Yeah, how ’bout them “contrarian” views…
Aha! Click the link again to see the Post’s correction.
The executive summary was released by the IG.
The full report is classified.
If Sentor Levin has “released portions” of a classified report, he has a serious problem on his hands, doesn’t he?
Also I looked into Tommy Franks’ assesment of Mr. Feith. Turns out he used some disturbingly indellicate language and was generally uncivil. You’d expect that from a lefty blogger, but from someone in the military, let alone a general? How he was never discharged is a mystery.
“If Sentor Levin has “released portions” of a classified report, he has a serious problem on his hands, doesn’t he?”
Not necessarily. The report carries an overall classification based on the highest classified item, -sentence, paragraph, whatever- within the report. If it has TS, S and C classified items, it would be overall TS. But indivudual items could be completely unclassified. If the report says that Quaker is about to attack Ira, that might be top secret. But if it explains Quaker is an OW poster, that exrtracted, would be unclassified. Usually sources are very sensitive.
And thats how a watch is made.
Still no Correction from Oliver.
Hey, everybody, look! Farris is back!
um..correction for what?
Re-read the article. There’s a giant correction that admits the damning quotes were misatributed more or less rendering the entire article irrelevant.
“Democrat dislikes Bush”. This deserves a Page 1splash?!?
From the correction, which OW will never admit (based on the fact that he never corrected any of his Plame assertions):
and
Additionally:
So EVERYTHING stated in OW’s quoted portion in the post came from Levin rather than the IG report.
Good work, OW!
“…while the inspector general’s report states that the office “developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers.” The inspector general’s report further states that Feith’s briefing to the White House in 2002 “undercuts the Intelligence Community” and “did draw conclusions that were not fully supported by the available intelligence.”
Apparently those corrections were cosmetic rather than substantive. Cooked the books still leaps to mind.