Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hmaly who wrote (181885)	1/29/2004 3:27:22 PM
From: Alighieri	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574557

Now, based on new information, people want to say the decision was wrong. I say that even now, the decision to go remove Saddam, WMD or no WMD, was a no brainer. Look, you may be happy with the removal of saddam...and I could even agree with that. the process however is a HUGE issue...if the prez can lie, distort, exagerate and take the nation to war that, what are the limits of his power? It's the process...get it? The results do not, nor will they ever show, that Saddam wouldn't have started the programs once the sanctions were ended, and the results don't show that the US could have kept up the sanctions, at a reasonable cost. oh please...keeping this guy in a box for the next 100 years would have been far easier than losing lives over a charade... From a US perspective, things are certainly better now, than before the war. I don't know how you know that. Scenario...Iraq descends into a civil war, in which the Shia make a violent grab for power, because the US cannot/will not deliver the kind of political solutions that give them the majority they think they deserve...conversely, the US does give them that power, and the kurds and sunni escalate their revolt...in other words hostility breaks out in the country...what options does America have...do we stay and fight it out, on whose side, at what cost (lives of course)? The Iraq mess is just beginning to unfold for you to say that we or they are better off. Al

To: hmaly who wrote (181885)	1/29/2004 10:00:14 PM
From: Road Walker	Respond to of 1574557

McCain Calls for Intelligence Error Probe 54 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! By KATHERINE PFLEGER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Parting company with many of his fellow Republicans, Sen. John McCain said Thursday he wants an independent commission to take a sweeping look at recent intelligence failures. AP Photo The White House has dismissed the proposal, saying the CIA (news - web sites) is committed to reviewing the intelligence behind claims that Iraq (news - web sites) had weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration also argues that the weapons search is not yet complete. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has expressed frustration with those who suggest an outside investigation is needed before his committee has a chance to complete an inquiry now underway. Senate Armed Service Chairman John Warner, R-Va., supports letting the committee finish its work. In an interview with The Associated Press, McCain said he believes the public needs an assessment that won't be clouded by partisan division. The Arizona senator said he is seeking a full-scale look not only at apparently botched intelligence on Iraq's weapons capabilities, but also flawed estimations of Iraq, North Korea (news - web sites) and Libya and the faulty assessments from other Western intelligence services. "I am absolutely convinced that one is necessary," McCain said, "because this is a very serious issue and we need to not only know what happened, but know what steps are necessary to prevent the United States from ever being misinformed again." McCain's comments come less than one week after the CIA's lead weapons inspector, David Kay, left his position and began stating publicly that purported weapons of mass destruction didn't exist. Democratic presidential candidates Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites), Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), and Howard Dean (news - web sites) also called for an independent investigation during a debate held Thursday in South Carolina. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) reiterated the administration's position Thursday, saying that efforts to learn the extent of Saddam's weapons arsenal are sufficient. "No one will want to know more than the president the comparison between what we found when we got there and what we thought was there going in," Rice said on NBC's "Today" show. When asked if she thought Americans have a legitimate concern about whether intelligence was manipulated to justify the decision to go to war, Rice replied, "The president's judgment to go to the war was based on the fact that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) for 12 years had defied U.N. resolutions" regarding his stock of weapons." She added that the administration went to war, because Saddam "had been considered a danger for a long time and it was time to take care of that danger." Kay and some Democrats, including Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., have also stated the need for an outside investigation into the intelligence community. Along with the Senate inquiry, several retired intelligence officers have delivered a review to CIA Director George Tenet on the performance of the CIA and other agencies. McCain, who was one of the loudest voices in a successful campaign to form a commission on the Sept. 11 attacks, said he spoke to administration officials, but doesn't know what — if any — action the White House will take. McCain believes the investigation would take over a year, removing the findings from election-year politics. McCain said the commission should consider a series of questions: Were the estimates wrong? If so, why? Who is responsible? What steps need to be taken to ensure that the president has accurate intelligence information? Names McCain suggested for the commission include former House Speaker Tom Foley, D-Wash., former Secretary of State and Treasury George Shultz, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft.