"Politics trumped intelligence on Web site
Tribune Editorial
Article Last Updated:11/03/2006 08:25:40 PM MST
Some people just can't take no for an answer.
The U.S. invasion of Iraq did not turn up any substantial evidence of a reconstituted nuclear or biological weapons program by Saddam Hussein. But Bush administration sympathizers were so distrustful of U.S. intelligence agencies that they hatched a scheme to post tens of thousands of captured Iraqi documents on a Web site called "Operation Iraqi Freedom Document Portal."
The idea was that if these documents were available to all comers, maybe independent scholars or amateur sleuths would turn up some evidence to support the Bush rationale for the invasion.
But there was a problem. The New York Times reported Friday that the documents included technical information that could help the enemies of the United States to build a nuclear bomb. It wasn't the kind of stuff that would be useful to a mad scientist working in his garage or a terrorist tinkering in a cave, but it could help a technologically sophisticated state that was running a clandestine nuclear program, say, Iran or North Korea.
It would appear, then, that the Republican gang that can't shoot straight in the White House and Congress has once again, through its incompetence, willful refusal to accept facts and devotion to ideological spin, done something stupid that could imperil national security. And the wonder of it all is that they have done it in the name of national
security.
As the Times was about to break its story, which was based on concerned European diplomats and the International Atomic Energy Agency sending up red flares, the director of national intelligence pulled the Web site down pending further review of the documents.
So who do the American people have to thank for this latest bit of buffoonery?
The Times story says it began with conservative publications and politicians, who mounted a campaign for the online archive. The Web site was championed in Congress by Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., his counterpart in the Senate.
Thanks, guys.
Need we say it? While it is generally a good idea to make government documents available to the widest possible audience, that does not extend to nuclear cookbooks. |
