Did Bush Lie or was he misled?

[wivabef]

And does it matter?

The Commission came out with blame placed on misinformation.

I still say, regardless of what the information is, we went in there unprepared and with the wrong mission in mind.

However, I wonder if this report will have those who said Bush "lied" about WMD wondering if they have been misled, too.

[frazzledspice]

If you are the President of the United States you have to do your homework. If you don't, it doesn't matter whether you're lying or uninformed. You are equally culpable.

Having just read the Paul O'Neill/Ron Suskind book, I am just astonished at how little homework Bush did. He didn't even ask questions at meetings, just stared blankly and went on to the next person.

He didn't even read three page memos.

He entered into war with Iraq after having done less independent research than I would have done before buying a television set.

[erik_kosberg]

Did Bush Lie or was he misled?

C. Both of the above.

[MrsNormanMaine[$]]

The problem is, no one will pay attention to this story - they're all preoccupied with Terri Schiavo. When you watch the magicians left hand, you don't see what the right is doing.

MNM !queen

[drmomentum[$]]

Tenet, who resigned in June, was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Bush in December.

I dunno, everything seems hunky-dory to me.

Besides, as far as I know, a chief executive takes responsibility for what happens under his watch. If mistakes were made, I haven't heard Bush take responsibility.

So, either everything is A-OK, or Bush is... hell, you all know my opinion of the ongoing abysmal performance of this administration.

-JP

[rmthunter]

wivabef said

The Commission came out with blame placed on misinformation.

And this is news exactly how?

[wivabef]

rmthunter said

And this is news exactly how?

I don't understand the sarcastic tone on this... is there something invalid in my posting this top news story?

[rmthunter]

wivabef said

I don't understand the sarcastic tone on this... is there something invalid in my posting this top news story?

Not at all. The sarcastic tone stems from the fact that every report we have heard has blamed "misinformation" in spite of evidence (that doesn't all seem to have been refuted) that the correct information was available. I'm not going to scream "Whitewash!" since I'm as sick of this as anyone else. I just feel that the findings are no suprise in a context in which information is carefully managed and, when necessary, manufactured.

Nor do I discount that those in the intelligence community who provided information to the president were aware of what he and his top advisers wanted to hear. This is, after all, an administration that has a reputation for dispensing with open dissent, or even difference of opinion.

[wivabef]

rmthunter said

Not at all. The sarcastic tone stems from the fact that every report we have heard has blamed "misinformation" in spite of evidence (that doesn't all seem to have been refuted) that the correct information was available.

Oh! Got it!

I had misconstrued it as the Commission report release was old news.

[AuntieEmma[$]]

The Observer (England) said

An alcoholic cousin of an aide to Ahmed Chalabi has emerged as the key source in the US rationale for going to war in Iraq.

According to a US presidential commission looking into pre-war intelligence failures, the basis for pivotal intelligence on Iraq's alleged biological weapons programmes and fleet of mobile labs was a spy described as 'crazy' by his intelligence handlers and a 'congenital liar' by his friends.

The defector, given the code-name Curveball by the CIA, has emerged as the central figure in the corruption of US intelligence estimates on Iraq. Despite considerable doubts over Curveball's credibility, his claims were included in the administration's case for war without caveat....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story...451167,00.html

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

How about he was willing to be misled? "Oh please, don't throw me in the briar patch!" as B'rer Rabbit would say.

[drmomentum[$]]

A reality distortion field renders Bush incapable of lying.

Or us incapable of believing it. Same difference.

[rmthunter]

wivabef said

Oh! Got it!

I had misconstrued it as the Commission report release was old news.

Actually, the release of the report is not old news. The content, however:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/op...04dowd.html?hp

As the commission's co-chairman, Laurence Silberman, put it: "Our executive order did not direct us to deal with the use of intelligence by policy makers, and all of us were agreed that that was not part of our inquiry."
Huh? That's like an investigation into steroids in baseball that looks only at the drug companies, not the players who muscled up.

We don't need a 14-month inquiry producing 601 pages at a cost of $10 million to tell us the data on arms in Iraq was flawed. We know that. When we got over there, we didn't find any.

This is the fourth exhaustive investigation that has not answered the basic question: How did the White House and Pentagon spin the information and why has no one gotten in trouble for it?

Good ol' Maureen.

[erik_kosberg]

An alcoholic cousin of an aide to Ahmed Chalabi has emerged as the key source in the US rationale for going to war in Iraq.

Even The Onion can’t top that.

[drmomentum[$]]

This "Curveball" has sullied the good name of alcoholic cousins everywhere.

-JP

[erik_kosberg]

“An important email, a startling omission”