What Did They Know?When Did They Know It?

An accusation flying around the debate over why the US went ot war in Iraq is whether those who voted for the giving the President the authority to go to war has as much intelligence as he did. The Bush admin asserts that those who are now criticizing the war had the same information as the President did. Many critics now question that assertion.

One person who should know is former Florida Senator, Bob Graham. He was head of the Senate intelligence committee at the time that the Congress was deciding on this issue. In a recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post, he published something of a "smoking gun" detailing how Bush and his administration twisted and tortured the Iraq intelligence to fit their pre-conceived plan to invade Iraq.

There were troubling aspects to this 90-page document. While slanted toward the conclusion that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction stored or produced at 550 sites, it contained vigorous dissents on key parts of the information, especially by the departments of State and Energy. Particular skepticism was raised about aluminum tubes that were offered as evidence Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program. As to Hussein's will to use whatever weapons he might have, the estimate indicated he would not do so unless he was first attacked. -- Quoted by Ivo Daddler

To Graham's credit, he voted against the war in Iraq, feeling that the US had left business unfinished--finding and arresting Osama bin-Laden--in Afghanistan. In an interview on CNN with Wolf Blitzer, Graham further asserted that the one responsible for misocnstruing intelligence is the President.

In giving reasons why he voted against the war in Iraq, he noted that there are a lot of bad guys, terrible guys in that part of the world. Taking out Saddam Hussein seemed beside the point.

See further: Who is Lying About Iraq WMD Intel?NOvember 25 Entry