There was a tendency to believe the worst at the top, rather than take a Pollyanna view.
There was a tendency to believe whatever information supported the idea of an invasion, which was the desired course of action. Specifically, there was a tendency to believe everything Chalabi’s exiles had to say about WMD, despite repeated warnings from the intel community that these people had a very strong incentive to exaggerate and invent.
On the other hand, the administration’s attitude toward post-war Iraq was Pollyanna all the way: anyone who warned that “installing” democracy was likely to be difficult, or maintaining peace was likely to be a serious problem, was dismissed as a racist who thought Arabs incapable of democracy.
In short, they believed what they wanted to believe. Not a terribly bright thing to do, and hardly appropriate for the leaders of a great nation, but that’s what we get for electing mediocrities.
Remember, The Clinton Admin was pooh-poohing everything Terrorist to avoid having to take serious action.
Nobody took the threat seriously. The right was too busy yapping about China as the Next Great Enemy. Remember NewsMax and the mythical Chinese naval base in the Bahamas?
Actually, they knew China wasn’t much of a threat, but they saw it as an issue where Clinton was vulnerable. Too bad they had the wrong end of the stick.
Plenty of blame to go around…. |
