Intelligence consumer

By Creature

This is a lie, this is spin, this is the way this administration continues to pass the buck over to the intelligence community for its own "cherry-picking" failures during its unstoppable march to a predetermined war. Here is Rumsfeld talking out his ass yesterday (and the emphasis is mine because these guys just suck):

Rumsfeld also commented on the mistaken intelligence that led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, describing himself as a consumer of that product. "It turns out it was wrong, that intelligence," he said. But he said it was the same information that was available to members of Congress and other nations.

With the CIA in the news again due to the Goss firing resignation and ensuing "turf battles" and "power grabs" (which Rummy denies), this blame-the-intelligence spin has popped up once again. Now, I am no fan of things secret, but to continually blame the CIA for a failure of intelligence is at its best convenient spin, and at its worst a bold-faced lie. I lean toward bold-faced lie. The intelligence did not fail us on Iraq, our elected officials did. They picked a few cherries off the top of the intelligence basket that suited their needs, while ignoring the bushel of contradictory and cautionary fruit screaming to be recognized right below. To continually demoralize the people we need to rely on for protection is irresponsible.

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(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)