Foolish Spies Just Trying to Please The Boss

The Senate Intelligence Committee issued its report blaming the country’s intelligence agencies for being wrong about Iraq’s weapons’ capabilities.

This criticism falls short.

It should also lambaste the White House. The Bush administration cajoled and twisted and bullied their spies to provide them with data that would indict Iraq so they could get the war they’ve been dreaming about. While the spies exercised poor and unprofessional intelligence decisions, these agencies were basically just trying to keep the boss happy. What we ought to be more gravely concerned about is the Bush administration’s desire to manipulate this data so they could commence with their conquest of Iraq when their true responsibility -- which they childishly abandoned -- was to root out and dismantle Al Quaeda. They proved themselves not worthy of the mission. Let’s give John Kerry -- a veteran and the son of a diplomat -- the chance to put his intelligence and resolve to work for a better America that uses its force and alliances wisely.