Kay: 'We Were Almost All Wrong' :wash post

[jbfam4]

Kay: 'We Were Almost All Wrong'
Former Weapons Inspector Says Search in Iraq Exposes Gaps in U.S. Intelligence
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 28, 2004; 4:21 PM



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56311-2004Jan28.html?nav=hptop_tb


"Let me begin by saying, we were almost all wrong, and I certainly include myself here," Kay said. "It turns out that we were all wrong . . . and that is most disturbing."

As for the view that "analysts were pressured to reach conclusions that would fit the political agenda of one or another administration," Kay said, "I deeply think that is a wrong explanation." He said that "innumerable analysts" had apologized to him about their faulty estimates of Iraq's capability, but none had said, "I was pressured to do this." Instead, Kay said, the explanation usually was that "limited data" had led to their conclusions, and that they now realized there was another explanation.

"And you know, almost in a perverse way, I wish it had been undue influence, because we know how to correct that," Kay said. "The fact that it wasn't tells me that we've got a much more fundamental problem of understanding what went wrong."

[trumad]

1. OK...So let's start the investigations...

Let it allllll come out! All of it!

[JasonDeter]

2. Ok, which is it Kay, 'almost' or 'all'. I wasn't buying the bush* buschit

leading up to the war so to say all were wrong is wrong. So many Americans and in fact so many in the world have the right to say, "I told you so." Now get the hell out of my House!

[sampsonblk]

8. Same Here

Plenty of us were called unpatriotic for not believing a word Bush said about WMD. I can't believe a year later, we were "all" wrong.

Will ignorant Bush supporters suddenly realize what happened and admit we were right? Don't bet on it.

[rfranklin]

3. What a steaming pile!

Most of Anerica will eat it up with a fork and knife--and say it was very tasty!

[BeatleBoot]

4. Good thing Bush didn't lie

about consensual sex..he'd get impeached!

[DrBB]

5. False. "We" were NOT "all" wrong

This is the most insidious propaganda fallacy in the WMD spin, and it's the exact same one they used about the disastrous aftermath of the war and about 9/11 itself: "No one could have imagined...."

But the fact is, in ALL THOSE CASES there were plenty of highly informed and credible people telling them EXACTLY what they were in for.

In the particular case of the WMDs, Scott Ritter is on record in dozens of venues before the war explaining why WMDs were a red herring and why none would be found.

And do we hear any interviewers confronting this David Kay item with that simple fact? "But gee, Mr Kay, former Chief Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter said this BEFORE the war, so how can you fault 'intelligence reports,' huh?"

Nope. Not a peep.

[DrBB]

6. Just for fun, an LTTE

...to the Washington Post:

Mr Kay ("Kay: 'We Were Almost All Wrong,'" WPost, 1/28/04) would have us believe that the Administration would never have dreamed of invading Iraq all on their own, and that no credible intelligence was indicating that Iraq might not actually be stuffed with WMDs. In fact, former Chief Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter was making exactly that point in as many venues as would give him a hearing during the run-up to the war, and other figures of equal authority had debunked high-profile Administration claims about aluminum tubes and Niger yellow-cake before the war. I am not an intelligence expert and I was aware of these things, simply from paying attention and seeking out credible sources in the international media.

This is just another transparent instance of blame-shifting by the Bush administration. Funny that they came into office proclaiming themselves the champions of personal responsibility. Is there any chance they will ever be compelled to honor that pledge?

[Martin Eden]

7. Excellent letter

I just saw some more blame shifting or "blame sharing" on PBS, with Senator John McCain telling Jim Lehrer that the Clinton administration also believed Iraq possessed WMD, citing the Iraqi Liberation Act signed in 1998.

This same bunch who would never give credit or assign credibility to anything associated with Clinton are now contending that both administrations were equally mistaken, and that to accuse Bush of prevarication on this issue is tantamount to making the same charge against Clinton!

These repukes must be desperate when they start putting themselves in the same boat with the man they had impeached.

[Snappy]

9. Liar

This guy is no different than the rest of the repukes. He said there was no evidence of pressure on the CIA to come up with the proper intell. He damn well knows that Cheney was over there often bending and twisting arms to get what the Neo Fascists needed for cherry picking the info to invade Iraq.

All of these people are disgusting.

[dennis4868]

10. Not everyoen was wrong Mr. Kay....

DIA WARNINGS IGNORED: In September, 2002, the Defense Intelligence Agency (http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/Pentagon/us-dod-iraqchemreport-060703.htm) told the White House that there is " no reliable information (http://www.ceip.org/files/nonprolif/templates/article.asp?NewsID=4928) on whether Iraq is producing and stockpiling chemical weapons." The report also said, "A substantial amount of Iraq's chemical warfare agents, precursors, munitions, and production equipment were destroyed between 1991 and 1998 as a result of Operation Desert Storm and UN actions."

DOE WARNINGS IGNORED: In September, 2002, the Energy Department's technical experts warned the White House that the aluminum tubes Iraq was seeking --the central basis for the conclusion that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program -- were ill-suited to build centrifuges for enriching uranium (http://www.ceip.org/files/projects/npp/pdf/Iraq/declassifiedintellreport.pdf) . In fact, Secretary Powell even admitted before the U.N (http://64.4.30.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=d0956f80e6ea7a784d97d87731e8d3bd&lat=1075302281&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ecnn%2ecom%2f2003%2fUS%2f02%2f05%2fsprj%2eirq%2epowell%2etranscript%2e07%2f) . that there was controversy over the tubes.

STATE DEPT. INTELLIGENCE WARNINGS IGNORED: In October, 2002, the State Department's Intelligence and Research Department (INR) told the White House that its WMD conclusions were inaccurate (http://www.ceip.org/files/projects/npp/pdf/Iraq/declassifiedintellreport.pdf) . Its report said, "the activities we have detected do not ... add up to a compelling case that Iraq is currently pursuing what INR would consider to be an integrated and comprehensive approach to acquiring nuclear weapons." The Financial Times on 7/30/03 noted that this warning was specifically reiterated to Secretary Powell during the preparations of his U.N. speech, but again was ignored.

AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE WARNINGS IGNORED: While President Bush said Iraq had Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that could spray biological weapons on American soil, the WP reported on 9/26/03 that "the government organization most knowledgeable about UAV programs - the Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center - had sharply disputed that notion" to the White House, but was ignored.

SEEMS LIKE THE ONLY ONES THAT WERE WRONG WAS the Office of Special Plans created by Bush, Cheney and Rummy....

[teryang]

11. Both condoliesa and colon bowel

...are both on record making public statements that Iraq was not a threat in in 1991.

The defense of negligence is always raised when one is caught red handed in a case of fraud by intentional misrepresentation.

There is the added gulag dimension added to this by Chechny, dim wit and pundits chanting it is absurd to suggest that this was an intentional lie. Yet there is abundant direct and circumstantial evidence that it was a deliberate lie to provide a basis for war.

1st are the public statements of bowel and condoliesa. Second is the need for Herr Rumsdoldt to set up his own intel office when he wasn't getting the answers he wanted from the CIA, DIA, and State intel analyists. Third was Chechney's repeated visits to the CIA to enforce ideological commitment to Halliburton/Chevron objectives in the war to find weapons of mass duplicity.