Iraq Revisited Again
With the recently released report from the Presidential Commission on the Intelligence Capablities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction led by Senior Appeals Court Judge Laurence Silberman and former Senator Charles Robb (D) from Virginia there appears to be some "I told you so" attitudes from the left-wing in this country of late. The MSM is all agog over the report and emphasing the reports analysis of one part of their review of US Intelligence capabilities as related to Iraq. However, the commission itself dealt specifically with Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Here are some important excerpts that you would not get from the MSM that puts this report in perspective:
In regard to the commissions objective:
Our first task was to evaluate the Intelligence Community’s performance in assessing the nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons activities of three countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. In addition, we studied U.S. capabilities against other pressing intelligence problems—including Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, and terrorism. We wanted a range of studies so we would not judge the Intelligence Community solely on its handling of Iraq, which was—however important—a single intelligence target. In all, the studies paint a representative picture. It is the picture of an Intelligence Community that urgently needs to be changed.
Three main tasks were laid out in this report that bears visiting before we decide if President Bush "lied" to the American People on the eve of the Second Gulf War:
First, our main tasks were to find out how the Intelligence Community erred in Iraq and to recommend changes to avoid such errors in the future. This is a task that often lends itself to hubris and to second-guessing, and we have been humbled by the difficult judgments that had to be made about Iraq and its weapons programs. We are humbled too by the complexity of the management and technical challenges intelligence professionals face today. We recommend substantial changes, and we believe deeply that such changes are necessary, but we recognize that other reasonable observers could come to a different view on some of these questions.
Second, no matter how much we improve the Intelligence Community, weapons of mass destruction will continue to pose an enormous threat. Intelligence will always be imperfect and, as history persuades us, surprise can never be completely prevented. Moreover, we cannot expect spies, satellites, and analysts to constitute our only defense. As our biological weapons recommendations make abundantly clear, all national capabilities—regulatory, military, and diplomatic—must be used to combat proliferation.
Finally, we emphasize two points about the scope of this Commission’s charter, particularly with respect to the Iraq question. First, we were not asked to determine whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. That was the mandate of the Iraq Survey Group; our mission is to investigate the reasons why the Intelligence Community’s pre-war assessments were so different from what the Iraq Survey Group found after the war. Second, we were not authorized to investigate how policymakers used the intelligence assessments they received from the Intelligence Community. Accordingly, while we interviewed a host of current and former policymakers during the course of our investigation, the purpose of those interviews was to learn about how the Intelligence Community reached and communicated its judgments about Iraq’s weapons programs—not to review how policymakers subsequently used that information.
In order to really make a final judgement on the veracity of this report, you gunna have to read it. I know, its boring. But before you go shooting your mouth off about how "Bush Lied, People Died" please inform yourself fully on the conclusions of this report. If you do not, then you leave yourself wide open to being outflanked and outmanuevered by us on the right.
Even after this report, I'm in total support of the War on Terror. We can only wage war with the army we have and we can only analyze the intentions and capabilities of our enemies with the Intelligence agencies we currently possess. All else is subject to the vicissitudes of public opinion which is blinded by the fact it does not have access to top secret information pouring in from around the world from the military, CIA and other intelligence assets. Even for myself, the only thing I have for "intelligence" reports is the news media. And since they are of a liberal left-wing political persuasion, then everything they report must be taken with a grain of salt. After that, I only have history to fall back on as a guide to the future.
In regard to the commissions objective:
Our first task was to evaluate the Intelligence Community’s performance in assessing the nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons activities of three countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. In addition, we studied U.S. capabilities against other pressing intelligence problems—including Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, and terrorism. We wanted a range of studies so we would not judge the Intelligence Community solely on its handling of Iraq, which was—however important—a single intelligence target. In all, the studies paint a representative picture. It is the picture of an Intelligence Community that urgently needs to be changed.
Three main tasks were laid out in this report that bears visiting before we decide if President Bush "lied" to the American People on the eve of the Second Gulf War:
First, our main tasks were to find out how the Intelligence Community erred in Iraq and to recommend changes to avoid such errors in the future. This is a task that often lends itself to hubris and to second-guessing, and we have been humbled by the difficult judgments that had to be made about Iraq and its weapons programs. We are humbled too by the complexity of the management and technical challenges intelligence professionals face today. We recommend substantial changes, and we believe deeply that such changes are necessary, but we recognize that other reasonable observers could come to a different view on some of these questions.
Second, no matter how much we improve the Intelligence Community, weapons of mass destruction will continue to pose an enormous threat. Intelligence will always be imperfect and, as history persuades us, surprise can never be completely prevented. Moreover, we cannot expect spies, satellites, and analysts to constitute our only defense. As our biological weapons recommendations make abundantly clear, all national capabilities—regulatory, military, and diplomatic—must be used to combat proliferation.
Finally, we emphasize two points about the scope of this Commission’s charter, particularly with respect to the Iraq question. First, we were not asked to determine whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. That was the mandate of the Iraq Survey Group; our mission is to investigate the reasons why the Intelligence Community’s pre-war assessments were so different from what the Iraq Survey Group found after the war. Second, we were not authorized to investigate how policymakers used the intelligence assessments they received from the Intelligence Community. Accordingly, while we interviewed a host of current and former policymakers during the course of our investigation, the purpose of those interviews was to learn about how the Intelligence Community reached and communicated its judgments about Iraq’s weapons programs—not to review how policymakers subsequently used that information.
In order to really make a final judgement on the veracity of this report, you gunna have to read it. I know, its boring. But before you go shooting your mouth off about how "Bush Lied, People Died" please inform yourself fully on the conclusions of this report. If you do not, then you leave yourself wide open to being outflanked and outmanuevered by us on the right.
Even after this report, I'm in total support of the War on Terror. We can only wage war with the army we have and we can only analyze the intentions and capabilities of our enemies with the Intelligence agencies we currently possess. All else is subject to the vicissitudes of public opinion which is blinded by the fact it does not have access to top secret information pouring in from around the world from the military, CIA and other intelligence assets. Even for myself, the only thing I have for "intelligence" reports is the news media. And since they are of a liberal left-wing political persuasion, then everything they report must be taken with a grain of salt. After that, I only have history to fall back on as a guide to the future.
posted by Bruce R. McConnell | 8:33 AM
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