'Dead Wrong' – or Outright Deception?

[G_j]

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=5423

'Dead Wrong'
– or Outright Deception?
Iraqi WMD: someone threw us a curveball
by Justin Raimondo

So many investigations, so little time – that's a major problem these days for anyone intent on keeping up with the various scandals that plague this administration's foreign policy.

There's the recently-released 500-page-plus report <.pdf> on how we were bamboozled into believing that Saddam Hussein had "weapons of mass destruction," which concluded that the intelligence community was "dead wrong" – about everything.

We have the "Fitzgerald report" <.pdf> issued by the United Nations on the assassination of Rafik Hariri, which was trumpeted as conclusive proof that Syria was behind the Lebanese leader's death – at least, if you don't read beyond the headlines, and cherry-pick only what fits this theory from the actual text.

However, the Fitzgerald report was overshadowed by another UN report, one detailing the shenanigans that went on in the UN's "oil for food" program, in which Kofi Annan's son loomed large. Again, the headlines were misleading: Annan was not "cleared," but merely excused. Oddly, his "Hell no!" response to calls for him to step down as secretary general was fully supported by the supposedly anti-UN Bush administration. More about that later.

Finally, we have the news that the investigation into the role of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, is reaching a crossroads, with charges about to be filed. The investigation, which has been going on for at least two years, has all kinds of implications, political as well as criminal. It may well provide us with important clues about the mystery of how American foreign policy is created and conducted.

..much more..

[G_j]

1. kick

[G_j]

2. kick

[paineinthearse]

3. So many investigations, so little time????

I'd rephurase that to "So many calls for investigations, so little action".

Democratic letters to whomever and hearings will result in zilch.

We must win back at least the House in 2006.

[G_j]

4. "Darned Good Intelligence"

http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/3/31/122152/436

"Darned Good Intelligence"
By WilliamPitt,

Thu Mar 31st, 2005 at 12:21:52 PM EST :: Iraq ::

Bush's hand-picked crew of whitewashers has put out a report blaming the entire Iraq debacle on the intelligence community. The report is a farce, a fraud, evidence that the White House has managed to win its little war with CIA by sticking Goss in there and silencing whistleblowers by way of Plame-like intimidation. The corporate news media, of course, has helped.

My immediate thought: If the intelligence was so bad, so wrong, why are we still there?

Beyond that, let's remember a few things here.

<snip>
--------------
http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/4/1/83840/12693

"Darned Good Intelligence" Part II
By WilliamPitt,

Fri Apr 1st, 2005 at 08:38:40 AM EST :: Iraq ::

As reported yesterday, Bush's hand-picked WMD commission has basically exonerated the administration for Iraq while laying the blame squarely on the shoulders of the intelligence community.

It is time once again to reach down into the memory hole.

<snip>

===
http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050321/REPOSITORY/503210312/1029/OPINION03


Convenient end to 9/11 investigation, ALAN R. KRAG, Warner - Letter

March 21. 2005 8:00AM


In 2004 the Senate Intelligence Committee investigated the credibility of the intelligence leading to the administration's decision to invade Iraq. The finding was that all the intelligence was wrong. The committee was to continue working to determine if the administration influenced the intelligence reports or misused or misconstrued the information it had.

National Public Radio reported on March 10 that the House committee that was investigating the same issue was quietly stopped. The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, Sen. Roberts, a Republican, announced the same day that he was stopping the Senate investigation because "we already know that the information was wrong and that the administration says that they believed it to be true. . . . We shouldn't worry about the past. We should concentrate on the future."

Really?

Use this argument with the people who died in the Twin Towers. Tell it to the families of the 1,500-plus who have died in Iraq.

I believe "the powers" already have an idea that the administration misused intelligence. If the whole story were told, the outrage would bring down the presidency. Since the first Senate Intelligence Committee report, the administration has been spinning the story to say the end justifies the means: "We may have lied about the reasons for going into Iraq, but look how we've helped the Iraqis. We have Saddam Hussein in prison. Look how we are stabilizing the oil supply out of the Middle East."

..more..

[Discord]

5. I'll start giving any of these commisions credibility

when they are not solely appointed by the President himself. NO commision appointed by the President is "bi-partisan". period. the end.