Don't ask, because we won't tell

Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard has been trying to get some questions answered regards Iraq intelligence documents captured after the fall of Baghdad, with very little success. Check out his latest article, which details the effort to see what Saddam's Mukhabarat Intelligence service was up to before the war, and the resulting stone wall he's faced. As he points out, many are being sorted in Doha, Qatar and are NOT classified.

They've let him see some tantalizing document titles, such as:

1. Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) Correspondence to Iraq Embassy in the Philippines and Iraq MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
2. Possible al Qaeda Terror Members in Iraq
3. IIS report on Taliban-Iraq Connections Claims
4. Money Transfers from Iraq to Afghanistan
5. IIS Agent in Bulgaria

A guy like Hayes must be near insane being shown such stuff without being able to read the reports. There are over 40 listed in his column.

Why won't the adminstration allow this information into the press, since presumably it could mute criticism from the Carl Levins, Ted Kennedys and Moveon.orgs of the world and reverse public opinion about the war? The left would say because it probably doesn't show that Saddam was in bed with AQ. That possible outcome must be considered. Or Hayes might just be suffering from a form of bureacratidiocy, which strikes everyone at some point. However, with a situation as highly sensitive as this, the last option would be frightening.

One thing seems sure--Hayes will not let this drop, and he's got enough clout to keep it on the surface. He's also seen as someone who would carry administration water, so I suspect the dems will be keenly interested in why he hasn't been given the pail.