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Wednesday, April 28, 2004
My next political read is going to be the new Woodward book, "Plan of Attack". From today's Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Woodward describes a December 2002 Oval Office meeting in which CIA Director George Tenet and a deputy brief the President, Vice President, National Security Adviser and White House Chief of Staff on the status of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. According to the Woodward account, so far undisputed, Mr. Bush responded to the presentation by calling it a "nice try" but "not something that Joe Public would understand or would gain a lot of confidence from."
The President continued, "I've been told all this intelligence about having WMD and this is the best we've got?" At which point Mr. Tenet is said to have thrown his hands in the air and remarked, "It's a slam-dunk case!" Mr. Bush pressed again, "George, how confident are you?" Mr. Tenet: "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk!"
It isn't a shock, of course, that the CIA believed Iraq possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. The Clinton Administration bombed Iraq for four days in December 1998 based on that assessment. Every other major intelligence agency in the world believed the same. What is new in the Woodward account is the extent to which Mr. Bush appears to have been a thoughtful and critical consumer of such intelligence. The President reportedly told Mr. Tenet several times, "Make sure no one stretches to make our case."
All of which puts the "Bush lied" crowd in a rather awkward spot. "He misled every one of us," John Kerry has said. "He lied to me personally." Ted Kennedy: "Week after week after week after week, we were told lie after lie after lie after lie."
Perhaps Woodward's account will finally set aside the "Bush lied" canard.Labels: Archives_2004
.: posted by
Dave
11:46 AM
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