The Intelligence Mistakes Leading Up to the Iraq War
The United States Senate Intelligence Committee released a report Thursday about the mistakes that lead up to the war in Iraq. Many progressives have claimed in recent years that US President George W. Bush ‘lied’ to get the people to support a war. Conservatives, on the other hand, have argued that not Bush, but faulty intelligence was and is to blame for certain misinformation. The report shows that the leftist mantra “Bush lied, people died” is not correct, but it also concludes that Bush and his allies did most certainly cherrypick intelligence to make their case for war.
The report is not what many progressives had hoped. Bush did not lie as such. There is no reason to believe that Bush purposefully deceived the American people (and the world, at the UN).
At the foundation of the misinformation (they said that Saddam Hussein had WMD’s, posed an imminent threat to America, and that Saddam supported those directly responsible for 9/11) does not lie deceit; instead, intelligence failure is largely to blame.
‘The administration’s prewar statements on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were mostly backed up by available (but flawed) U.S. intelligence,’ the report concludes. It has to be pointed out, however, that the report also argues that the statements released and made by White House officials ‘tended to gloss over internal debate among intelligence agencies about those findings.’
There is one lie, however: ‘The report does find, however, that assertions by Bush and Vice President Cheney that Saddam was prepared to arm terrorist groups to attack the United States contradicted available intelligence. In fact, that intelligence suggested Saddam was unlikely to do so because he feared an attack would strengthen the U.S. case for war.’
This part of the case for war, however, was a relatively minor one.
So, as USA Today rightfully concludes, the report does not satisfy anyone: both supporters of Bush and progressives will undoubtedly be disappointed. Bush wasn’t convicted, but he was also not found ‘not guilty.’ It’s a bit of both - not guilty, but not ‘blameless’ either.
Luckily there are lessons to be learned from the report, the article goes on to say:
For Congress, the lesson is that lawmakers need to double-check intelligence themselves, not simply rely on summaries or administration assurances. Pathetically few members of Congress read the complete 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, which detailed misgivings of some intelligence agencies, before they cast fateful votes that authorized the Iraq war.
For this and future administrations, the lesson is that White House officials need to weigh and study all available intelligence, not seize on only what supports their preconceived notions. They mustn’t present ambiguity as certainty. They mustn’t launch pre-emptive attacks without bulletproof evidence. And never again should they treat war as a marketing campaign, like selling a new brand of toothpaste.
Both lessons should be taken to heart. Both Congress and the White House failed the American people… and the world.
