Jul. 06, 2004 - 19:42 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Each Other

Hoo Boy, an article in the Rocky Mountain News today by James Risen of the New York Times. In part:

CIA TAKES HIT OVER IRAQ

Agency didn't report doubts on weapons to Bush, officials say

"Washington -- The CIA was told by relatives of Iraqi scientists before the war that Baghdad's programs to develop unconventional weapons had been abandoned, but the CIA failed to give that information to President Bush."

"The lapse took place even as Bush publicly warned of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's illicit weapons, according to government officials."

"The existence of a secret prewar CIA operation to debrief relatives of Iraqi scientists -- and the agency's failure to give their statements to the president and other policy makers -- has been uncovered by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence."

"The panel has been investigating the government's handling of pre-war intelligence on Iraq's unconventional weapons and plans to release a wide-ranging report this week on the the first phase of its inquiry."

"Among many probems that contributed to the committee's harsh assesment of the CIA's prewar performance were instances in which analysts may have misrepresented information, writing reports that distorted evidence in order to bolster their case that Iraq did have chemical, biological and nuclear programs, according to government officials."

"While the Senate panel has concluded that CIA analysts and other intelligence officials overstated the case that Iraq had illicit weapons, the committee has not found any evidence that the analysts changed their reports as a result of political pressure from the White House, according to officials familiar with the report."

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My opinion. Seems to be much conjecture, "The report is expected to contain - - - - "

So the report isn't out yet and unnamed government officials are supposedly saying this that and the other about said report, unverified, attributed to NO NAME higher up.

Think I will wait and see what transpires before I mouth anymore. And wouldn't it be nice if the full report would be printed in the newspaper ? Even in the newspapers any more only sound bites seem to prevail.

I remember the "talk to the hand" bit from comedies, but in this case the hands didn't even talk to Each Other . . . . . . . . .

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