Just like the creationists, Bush looked for evidence to fit the preconceived conclusion.
Offline He did not go where the evidence led him, he led the evidence where he wanted to go.
Bush knew?
Category: Evil • Politics
Posted on: September 5, 2007 9:32 PM, by PZ Myers
You've got to read this account of the intelligence that led to the Iraq war.
On April 23, 2006, CBS's "60 Minutes" interviewed Tyler Drumheller, the former CIA chief of clandestine operations for Europe, who disclosed that the agency had received documentary intelligence from Naji Sabri, Saddam's foreign minister, that Saddam did not have WMD. "We continued to validate him the whole way through," said Drumheller. "The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming, and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy."
Now two former senior CIA officers have confirmed Drumheller's account to me and provided the background to the story of how the information that might have stopped the invasion of Iraq was twisted in order to justify it. They described what Tenet said to Bush about the lack of WMD, and how Bush responded, and noted that Tenet never shared Sabri's intelligence with then Secretary of State Colin Powell. According to the former officers, the intelligence was also never shared with the senior military planning the invasion, which required U.S. soldiers to receive medical shots against the ill effects of WMD and to wear protective uniforms in the desert.
Bush knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He was told that the source that claimed there were was not credible, and he was told that the information coming from a source close to Hussein had been validated.
Bush lied to drag us into a pointless, unjust war.
Bush must be impeached. It doesn't matter how impractical the process seems to be, or how timid the Democrats are. This is an issue of the rule of law: are we to be governed by criminals? Is there to be no punishment for such hideous acts that lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people? These men are monsters.
All I'm asking is that Bush and Cheney be thrown out of office in disgrace. If justice were served, there'd also be a subsequent act of extraordinary rendition that delivered them into the hands of the government of Iraq.
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While I find this sickening, I am not surprised. Bush certainly would not be the first politician to involve the US in combat solely to advance his own career/agenda. Many people do deceitful things for selfish reasons like that, but, sadly, his selfishness costs lives. He probably should be impeached, but it is unlikely that will happen. I would love to think that there is some justice in that he has to live with his conscience, but I doubt his bothers him.
Sadly, I'm not even remotely surprised. It's a shame this man is our president. Thankfully he can't get another term, unless of course he manages to pass another of his constitution-breaking laws.
If god takes life he's an indian giver
BGH - I have to disagree. Virtually EVERY person and nation on the face of the planet believed Saddam had WMD’s. Even far left wing people like Nancy Pelosi ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=xwDJRBOsj78 ). Intelligence gathering is a process of sifting through accumulated information from many different sources and from the COMBINED evidence coming to a conclusion (Much like a jury gathering evidence). Some of this information is, for whatever reason, faulty or “tainted” and is not used. This letter Mr. Drumheller is referring to is a perfect example. Were other sources, not known to Western European CIA, showing that this minister was trying to manipulate us? Was it even verified to be coming from this minister? I mean we have Saddam himself saying he did not have WMD’s therefore it must be so! Intelligence gathering is an imperfect system but it’s the only one we have and, generally, our country is the best in the world at it. Along with our efforts everyone else in the world was gathering information from many different areas and they all came to the same conclusion as us: Saddam had WMD’s. Now, after the war, people look back to the few pieces of information that pointed toward the opposite conclusion (And in every intelligence gathering operation there will be conflicting evidence) and say there MUST have been some kind of cover up! This is truly amazing and, like the 911 conspiracy theories or the far rights attacks against Bill Clinton, recklessly untrue. If you lay out ALL the evidence in its ENTIRETY you will see that, based on the evidence at the time, Saddam did indeed appear to have WMD’s. My best proof of this is that the “consensus” of the best Intel people at the time from all over the world, even Saddam’s friends, did this very thing and came to the same conclusion: Saddam had WMD’s. And even now there is evidence showing that there was, indeed, WMD’s in Iraq http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewSpecialReports.asp?Page=/SpecialReports/archive/200602/SPE20060202a.html Remember that TO THIS DAY people still believe Roosevelt allowed Pearl Harbor to happen ( http://www.apfn.org/apfn/pearl_harbor.htm ) and that we never actually went to the moon ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Moon_Landing_hoax_accusations ). Clearly irrationality is not limited to religion. We must always follow facts and evidence to wherever it leads us. All of the conspiracies described above may very well be valid. However, they are ALL extraordinary claims and as such require extraordinary proof.
"Those who have stepped into the arena shall forever cherish a feeling the protected will never know."