Great Talking Point

Joshua Micah Marshall, from Talking Points Memo, commented on the pending report on intelligence failures in Iraq and leading up to the occupation and 'liberation.'

The main point Marshall makes here is the little centrifugal tubes 'had' to be for enriching uranium. The Administration got a report that they didn't like then outsource for a second opinion which *sigh* was exactly what they wanted. Despite the fact that our CIA and nuclear experts forcefully said that this idea was false, the Bushies pushed it on the American public as well as the UN and international public. Not only that, but all this false information was what was presented to Congress (and the UN) to vote to support the use of force against Iraq if they don't comply with something that was impossible to comply with.

This article by Marshall is just one example of hundreds of intelligence failures, intentional misleading, character assasinations (like the CIA blown cover -- Africa/Nuclear connection) etc.

As David Albright wrote in March 2003, "For over a year and a half, an analyst at the CIA has been pushing the aluminum tube story, despite consistent disagreement by a wide range of experts in the United States and abroad. His opinion, however, obtained traction in the summer of 2002 with senior members of the Bush Administration, including the President."