Politics: Cheney's Bad Environment
The Washington Post has a surprisingly brave piece on the "environment" created by multiple visits by Vice President Cheney and his top aide Scooter Libby to the CIA in the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq. The Post, which hasn't exactly shown a spine in deference to the Bush administration's juggernaut of smoke and mirrors, is one of the only major American newspapers to endorse an invasion of Iraq openly and early. At one point, the Post was rooting for war before even the Wall Street Journal's editorial page had crossed that boundary. But it is in tribute, perhaps, to independent newsgathering that the story of how Bush and co. made this war happen is finally getting some play.
Walter Pincus and Dana Priest tell it like it is:
In the UK, Parliament is already setting up some sort of inquiry to find out if Blair was selling a bill of goods when he made his statements about Iraq, weapons of mass destruction and al Q. Right now, congressional Democrats ought to be ordering some cajones from across the pond.
The Washington Post has a surprisingly brave piece on the "environment" created by multiple visits by Vice President Cheney and his top aide Scooter Libby to the CIA in the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq. The Post, which hasn't exactly shown a spine in deference to the Bush administration's juggernaut of smoke and mirrors, is one of the only major American newspapers to endorse an invasion of Iraq openly and early. At one point, the Post was rooting for war before even the Wall Street Journal's editorial page had crossed that boundary. But it is in tribute, perhaps, to independent newsgathering that the story of how Bush and co. made this war happen is finally getting some play.
Walter Pincus and Dana Priest tell it like it is:
Vice President Cheney and his most senior aide made multiple trips to the CIA over the past year to question analysts studying Iraq's weapons programs and alleged links to al Qaeda, creating an environment in which some analysts felt they were being pressured to make their assessments fit with the Bush administration's policy objectives, according to senior intelligence officials.
[...]
Former and current intelligence officials said they felt a continual drumbeat, not only from Cheney and Libby, but also from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, Feith, and less so from CIA Director George J. Tenet, to find information or write reports in a way that would help the administration make the case that going into Iraq was urgent.
"They were the browbeaters," said a former defense intelligence official who attended some of the meetings in which Wolfowitz and others pressed for a different approach to the assessments they were receiving. "In interagency meetings," he said, "Wolfowitz treated the analysts' work with contempt."
In the UK, Parliament is already setting up some sort of inquiry to find out if Blair was selling a bill of goods when he made his statements about Iraq, weapons of mass destruction and al Q. Right now, congressional Democrats ought to be ordering some cajones from across the pond.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home