Even more of the same

Tom Maguire has asked his readers to delve deeply into the latest incarnation of the Senate Phase II report on intelligence failures in advance of Iraq and report back. Here goes...whew, that was fast.

If pressed for time just skip to the minority conclusions because even moderate delving reveals nothing that 1) pertains to Iraq intelligence failures, 2) definitively smears Feith or his OSP, or 3) shows any criminal wrongdoing.

Sounds like a good reason to release it on a Friday afternoon, and probably why McClatchey is leading the charge after proving their misdirection skills with the Joint Forces Report. This time the narrative seems to be that Iran (or another government) used Manucher Ghorbanifar as a cat's paw to affect change in the highest levels of DC without the CIA's approval and it caused something bad to happen somewhere. While the report does suggest that possibility it provided no evidence such a thing occurred.

Matter of fact, there's so little red meat the only practical use (aside from political smears) appears to be its conspiracy value--for both sides. The Plameologists will certainly notice the names Marc Grossman and Richard Armitage as will Sibel Edmonds and her followers. According to the story Grossman was informed about the Rome meeting by America's Italian Ambassador (Sember) sometime before he attended a meeting in the bowels of Langley in February 2002 to discuss sending Joe Wilson to Niger (we're still wondering who "walk-by guy was").

Did these two event horizons ever merge? Only God and the nutroots can tell us for sure, but we know Mr. Grossman was contacted by Scooter Libby in 2003 when Cheney's office was querying State about why Joe Wilson was sent to Africa. And as an aside, from the report:

As noted earlier the Committee never sought an interview with Deputy Secretary of State Armitage and only interviewed Director of Central Intelligence Tenet at the 11th hour, at the request of the minority and without any minority staff present.

It's as if Armitage is radioactive. They didn't interview Grossman, either.

All in all, after a thorough reading the analyst here at Fore Left agrees with the very last sentence of the report..."it was a complete waste of time and should never have been included in the Committee's Phase II investigation".

THE HUBRIS KNOWS NO BOUNDS 6/7/08 (hey, it's 6-7-8!)

Senator Rockefeller now:

“It is my belief that the Bush Administration was fixated on Iraq, and used the 9/11 attacks by al Qa’ida as justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein. To accomplish this, top Administration officials made repeated statements that falsely linked Iraq and al Qa’ida as a single threat and insinuated that Iraq played a role in 9/11. Sadly, the Bush Administration led the nation into war under false pretenses.

Senator Rockefeller then, as quoted in HIS OWN REPORT:

There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next 5 years - Chairman John Rockefeller, Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, September 25, 2002.

Lordy mackeral what a patronizing, opportunistic boob. Actually wait, comparing him to a boob besmirches a lovely body part--think lower and further back. Oh, and let's not forget that special little trip.

Much more here, and thanks for the reminder, Mick.