Still Bush's fault

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KN) says "collective group think" at fault in intelligence failure

The Senate Select Intelligence Committee has released its much-anticipated report blaming the U.S. intelligence community for overstating the threat Saddam Hussein posed to the United States -- blogged here -- and Ranking Member Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV) is already spinning to assembled reporters at the press conference:

We would not have authorized the war had we known what we know now.

Uh, huh. And we suppose GW WOULD have "rushed" into war irregardless? That is what his words imply (or are we being paranoid?) . No, we're not being paranoid. Listen to what he's saying now: "The Bush Administration made clear, publicly, they had already made up their minds to go to war" early on.

Highlights of Committee Chairman Sen. Pat Roberts' (R-KS) intro (rough transcript):

Intel community was suffering from "a "collective group think" . . . extended to other nations, United Nations as well. This was a "global intelligence failure" . . . a layering effect: "intelligence assumption train" . . . errors stemmed from "broken corporate culture." No indication it was the result of politics or pressure . . . Where do we go from here? Must avoid the law of unintended consequences . . . should not legislate change only for the sake of change.

A reporter points out that the report is unanimous there was no political pressure, and yet Rockefeller is now saying there WAS political pressure, so "Why did you sign the report?" Rockefeller fudges, whining that the committee -- which took a full year to complete this first phase of its work -- didn't have time, before the elections, to address the issue of how the intelligence was used. His great grandfather would not be amused.

Update: More tasty spin-bits from a post-press-conference Washington Post report:

As a result of the intelligence failures, [Rockefeller] said, "our credibility is diminished, our standing in the world has never been lower" and "we have fostered a deep hatred of Americans in the Muslim world." Rockefeller added, "As a direct consequence, our nation is more vulnerable today than ever before."

Then there are these helpful words of Committee Member Carl Levin (D-MI) on the "Today Show" this morning:

But I think it's also clear that they were shaping intelligence in order to meet the policy needs of the administration. There can't be much doubt about that as an explanation."

No doubt if you've already made up your mind ahead of time.

Now this: Molly Henneberg on FOXNews is reporting the CIA will have a response this afternoon.

Comments

[rick]

Ok, lemmee make sure I have this straight. Some fascist terrorist a-holes blow up a bunch of our people, the world over, for - how many years now? - and finally land the BIG ONE right here on OUR turf. We respond with force, determination, and will, to protect ourselves, and suddenly have fostered "a deep hatred of Americans in the Muslim world"?????

I can't shake the sneaking suspicion that it has existed for quite some time...

"Our standing in the world has never been lower..." I have real problems with that. We have never been scarier to the rest of the world, maybe; at least since the cold war, but that's just because the ROW sees all of a sudden some resolve, some stick-to-it-iveness that's been lacking since Vietnam, and it interferes with the European drive towards utopian socialism.

Maybe we oughta just evict the worthless, toothless UN, seal the borders, pull our heads into our shells, let these jerks flounder on with their bound-to-fail new world order, and still be around to pick up the pieces when it all goes down in flames. Or, more likely, up in flames.

But it just ain't the American Way, now, is it? Helping the helpless, it's what we do. Too bad we can't clue the clueless.