I’ve read and heard a lot of complaints about the CIA in the whole “speech-gate”/Bush lies issue that has sprung to life (thankfully!) recently. Unfortunately, the impression I’ve received is that the White House pressured the CIA to include and support this kind of evidence, not the other way around. For instance, the Boston Globe today writes
Even as the CIA found little to verify the reports, Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to put them into public statements. Sometimes CIA succeeded in getting the information removed.
For instance, the agency tried to have the Niger reference removed from a State Department fact sheet in December 2002, but the document was published before the change could be made, one U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
This isn’t the view of a CIA that was inept, but an Administration, clearly led directly bu Bush, pushing evidence that was almost certainly fabricated to support their flismy argument for directly invading another sovereign nation without any real provocation. My only hope is that this fire continues to simmer…