Bad Intelligence Does Not A Deceiver Make
by Frank Salvato
Jan 29, 2004
Although I will admit that I am usually one to wait until the trial is finished, the jury back and the verdict in, it would seem that David Kay’s final report on the WMD situation in Iraq points out one thing, there were no “massive piles of WMD, in Iraq immediately prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom.” That being said, it appears that out of the myriad of reasons presented to the American people for ousting Saddam Hussein from power, only one of them was incorrect. In every other matter known to mankind that is a damn good percentage.
The fact that the intelligence afforded to President Bush and our legislators by the Central Intelligence Agency, which was corroborated by intelligence organization from around the world, was exaggerated is an alarming thing. When an agency charged with knowing the unknown cannot accurately possess information purposely being kept from them one would think the head of that agency would refrain from walking into the Oval Office and stating unsubstantiated reports as fact. Of course George Tenet didn’t do this but this brings me to a point, the information that was used with regard to WMD was presented to the President and the legislators of our country, including John Kerry, John Edwards and Joe Lieberman, in good faith. For anyone, including the three presidential contenders named, to point fingers in hindsight is convoluted and hypocritical, especially when votes were cast authorizing the use of force based on the information afforded to all.
The galling aspect of this entire situation is the fact that liberals in this country, including anti-war protesters, Bush-haters, Democrats who find themselves on the left side of their own party and seven presidential candidates from the Democratic Party, are trying to paint George Bush as a deceiver, a liar. Such a contention is libelous at the very least.
As Jonah Goldberg, an editor of National Review Online, so succinctly pointed out in an article for Townhall, “the idea that the president lied to the American people hinges on - at least - one almost impossible fact: that George W. Bush knew for a certainty that the intelligence agencies of America, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Australia, as well as the United Nations and countless independent experts were all wrong.” This would be a big stretch for a man that the liberal left claims is extremely unintelligent; in fact, it would be an incredible feat for Stephen Hawking.
But as we head into a presidential election, a time when Adolph Hitler’s old adage, “If you repeat a slogan long enough, they will believe it,” comes into play, we will no doubt hear about the incredible deception that was practiced by George W. Bush and his administration in the days leading to Operation Iraqi Freedom. These assertions can only be categorized as untrue and politically motivated but for reasons only understood by the politically spun mind, they will be promulgated anyway, true deception practiced shamelessly.
If we are to be attentive to the needs of our country, remaining above the fray, refusing to contribute to the volleys of half-truths, spin and innuendo that most political campaigns engage in, we need to address the fact that our intelligence community is listing aimlessly in the sea that is clandestine knowledge. As I stated in an article titled, The Intelligence Problem Started 11 Years Ago, this handicap didn’t start with the Bush Administration. In fact, one of the leading Democratic candidates played a key roll in “gutting” our intelligence capabilities.
Throughout the 1990’s John Kerry, Senator from Massachusetts, asked this question, as published in the Congressional Record on May 1, 1997, “Now that [the Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow…” In fact he produced several pieces of legislation calling for reductions in funding for the American intelligence community. In 1994 Kerry introduced S.B. 1826 that proposed cutting $1 billion from the budgets of the National Foreign Intelligence Program and from Tactical Intelligence, and freezing their budgets. In 1995 he introduced Senate Bill 1290 that would have “reduced the Intelligence budget by $300 million in each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000,” $1.5 billion overall. For John Kerry to be traipsing around the country pointing fingers at George W. Bush for “deceiving” the American public while the very reason our intelligence was compromised in the first place is directly related to his actions is the height of hypocrisy and, quite frankly, deceptive.
President Bush should come to the American public and address the matter. He should state it very matter-of-factly and confront the accusations of his accusers. The American people are not daft and they will in the long run accept the position he and the legislators who voted with him were in. He should spotlight the flawed intelligence not only from the CIA but also from the other intelligence agencies from around the world including the United Nation’s published reports on Hussein’s capabilities. But should President Bush do this, his opposition should be forewarned that he should also spotlight the truth as to why our intelligence community has become second-rate. I am not too sure those on the left, John Kerry, Carl Levin and Bill Clinton included, would enjoy that information being shared with the American public.
Was the intelligence used to argue the matter of WMD inaccurate? Yes, it was. Would that have changed the fact that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the security of the world? No, it would not have. Is the world a safer place now that Hussein is gone? Absolutely. But the one thing that cannot be said is that George W. Bush is a liar. Anyone asserting that thought is being deceptive, and someone who deceives is called a…
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