Dogs of War Got Scent Early

apotropoxy · #1 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Ex-CIA official faults use of data on Iraq
Intelligence ‘misused’ to justify war, he says
By Walter Pincus
Updated: 11:45 p.m. ET Feb. 9, 2006
The former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war, and of ignoring warnings that the country could easily fall into violence and chaos after an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Paul R. Pillar, who was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, acknowledges the U.S. intelligence agencies' mistakes in concluding that Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass destruction. But he said those misjudgments did not drive the administration's decision to invade.

"Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war," Pillar wrote in the upcoming issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq."
"It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between [Bush] policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized," Pillar wrote.(…)
Pillar, retired after 28 years at the CIA, was an influential behind-the-scenes player and was considered the agency's leading counterterrorism analyst. By the end of his career, he was responsible for coordinating assessments on Iraq from all 15 agencies in the intelligence community. He is now a professor in security studies at Georgetown University. (...)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11261915/from/RS.4/

You go to war with the intel you'd like to have... not the intel you have.

Hard-Driver · #2 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 06:29 AM

The Iraq policy was written by the PNAC while Clinton was in office. Voting in the neocon cable then started it in motion. 9/11 was the "new pearl harbor" needed to implement the policy and then finally the intelligence was used to "justify" the policy.

thinktanker · #3 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by apotropoxy";p=&quot

Quote:

Ex-CIA official faults use of data on Iraq
Intelligence ‘misused’ to justify war, he says
By Walter Pincus
Updated: 11:45 p.m. ET Feb. 9, 2006
The former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war, and of ignoring warnings that the country could easily fall into violence and chaos after an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Paul R. Pillar, who was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, acknowledges the U.S. intelligence agencies' mistakes in concluding that Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass destruction. But he said those misjudgments did not drive the administration's decision to invade.

"Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war," Pillar wrote in the upcoming issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq."
"It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between [Bush] policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized," Pillar wrote.(…)
Pillar, retired after 28 years at the CIA, was an influential behind-the-scenes player and was considered the agency's leading counterterrorism analyst. By the end of his career, he was responsible for coordinating assessments on Iraq from all 15 agencies in the intelligence community. He is now a professor in security studies at Georgetown University. (...)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11261915/from/RS.4/

You go to war with the intel you'd like to have... not the intel you have.

Check out Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer, a 22 year vet of CIA. Great book. He wrote it Anonymously at first then revealed himself about a year later. Here is a little detail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Hubris

He worked for Counterterrorism at CIA and headed a task force on Bin Laden and Al Queda for a long while before retiring in apparent disgust with official direction.

thinktanker · #4 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 09:17 AM

Rather, "the administration wanted to hitch the Iraq expedition to the 'war on terror' and the threat the American public feared most, thereby capitalizing on the country's militant post-9/11 mood," Pillar wrote.

I agree with this 100%. The real question is WHY? We know the WMD thing was window dressing. If America knew the real WHY?, I wonder if support would still have been given, even with this "militant, post 9-11 mood" people were in.

No doubt some on here would have supported whatever was said. "They're hiding space aliens and stealing their technology" would have got the YES vote from some no doubt.

amepro · #5 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 02:07 PM

Ex CIA official, Paul Pillar is on "Hardball" tonight speaking out against the Bush administration and how they cherry-picked intelligence on Iraq.

JP5 · #6 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 02:54 PM

I've told this several times now....but I was present at the February 1998 Ohio State University Town Hall meeting held by CNN. At that meeting was Sandy Berger, Madelyn Allbright, and William Cohen--They were pushing the bombing of Iraq based on the fact that Saddam had kicked out the Un Weapons inspectors. And I can tell you that if the Bush administration "cherry-picked" then so did the previous administration. And I didn't hear any Democrats complaining about what they were telling us then.

That's why the intelligence wasn't "cherry-picked." The intelligence was what it was.....the same in 1998 as it was in 2002. So, unless this can somehow make the case that in between 1998 and 2002, Saddam Hussein became "Mr. NiceGuy" and got rid of the wmd and his program....and he has some proof of it.....then his words don't mean anything. Let him explain what was different in 1998 from 2002.

amepro · #7 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 03:34 PM

It's interesting that you know more than an Ex CIA official.

DuH2 · #8 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 04:28 PM

Theres more then one opinion on it. ..an JP5's example is of what was common.
You know (*)(*)(*)(*) well it was get Saddam week for 2-3 years before 9/11.

Interesting though since we are doing that....The ones that seem to matter the most apparently are x-so and so, retired , etc .. who just happen to agree enough with us to matter and not be Fascist NeoCon Sheeple!!!!!

But wheren't they Fascists Lying NeoCons too!!

ForceoftheTruth · #9 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 04:31 PM

I believe this, but to me this is irrelevant. Saddam Hussein was no threat to U.S. soil, therefore there was no legitimate reason to go to war against him.

JP5 · #10 (**permalink**) 02-20-2006, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by amepro";p=&quot

It's interesting that you know more than an Ex CIA official.

Apparently.....ANYBODY knows more than he does. If he was "former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year" as your article says.....he sure as heck missed 9/11 didn't he? Not the person I want to place a lot of faith in.

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