PBS documentary: Bush's War

[FrankRizzoXD40]

Originally Posted by Frenchy

Of course he had...We already knew that.

I know...

I was just talking about how the intelligence was either completely wrong or not current.

Frank

[KEVWYO]

Originally Posted by FrankRizzoXD40

It is pretty apparent that the intelligence that was provided was bad. German intelligence was bad (remember "curveball"?", British intelligence was bad, the UN though he had WMD, and all 15 of our own intelligence agencies thought he had WMD (as stated in the NIE).

Not totally correct in your assertion here. I'm working from memory on the documentary so bear with me to a degree please ...

Yes, the intelligence was bad. But both Condi Rice and George Tenet were getting info that didn't corroborate what the President was being fed by Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Feith. Rice and especially Tenet had the chance to take a stand and at least say what you're hearing Mr President can't be coroborated. Instead, Tenet eventually said it was a slam dunk when it was anything but. This lead to Colin Polwell be hung out to dry. Because Cheney and crew weren't getting info they believed was true they set up their won little intelligence office. Except, they weren't getting intelligence per se. They were reading reports and trying to connect dots that couldn't be connected. They wanted firm, black and white answers from intelligence where the better part of valor is sometimes saying "we just don't know." They were beauracrats trying to be intelligence agents. Dangerous combo in my estimation.

This is my take on the intelligence community and it's failures: they didn't know what they thought they knew and what they thought they knew didn't turn out to be true.

As David Kay said

By the way I posted parts of the David kay transcript in anothe thread but you can read it here: FRONTLINE: bush's war: interviews: david kay | PBS

[FrankRizzoXD40]

Originally Posted by KEVWYO

what the President was being fed by Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Feith.

And where do you think these 3 people were getting the intelligence from?

The NIE before the war claimed that Iraq had WMD. That is made up from all of our intelligence agencies.

Frank

[KEVWYO]

Originally Posted by FrankRizzoXD40

And where do you think these 3 people were getting the intelligence from?

The NIE before the war claimed that Iraq had WMD. That is made up from all of our intelligence agencies.

Frank

Like I said read that David Kay transcript in the link above. It will do a better job than my memory can.

The NIE was a politicized document. The Frontline documentary does a very good job of showing how much tension and competition and back stabbing there was going on between, State, Pentagon, intelligence communities, NSA's, etc. Powell was the voice of calm and moderation but was seen as a threat in a way and was peripheralized so to speak by Cheney (he had an agenda), Wolfowitz (Cheney's lacky), and Rumsfeld wanting to run the show by throwing some sharp political elbows. The NIE was flawed, the info Bush got was flawed, and the rest is flawed history.

[AZXD]

Originally Posted by FrankRizzoXD40

And where do you think these 3 people were getting the intelligence from?

The NIE before the war claimed that Iraq had WMD. That is made up from all of our intelligence agencies.

Frank

IS this a serious question, or are you posing just to do so ??

[Powerman]

I guess I'm just going to have to watch this on line. I tried to see when it would air again, but nothing. I like a lot of Frontline's stuff. Watch "The Lost Year in Iraq". It was about the first year in Iraq. Very informative and impartial.Quite an eye opener to watch the wheels in motion.

[AZXD]

Powerman et all,
I'm not sure about your location, but here in Phoenix, PBS is airing the show again tonight.

[Powerman]

Originally Posted by AZXD

Powerman et all,
I'm not sure about your location, but here in Phoenix, PBS is airing the show again tonight.

I checked my listings, no dice I'll keep checking though cause maybe it isn't in the cable listings right. Thanks

[AZXD]

Originally Posted by Powerman

I checked my listings, no dice I'll keep checking though cause maybe it isn't in the cable listings right. Thanks

It is for my area, but I pay a couple dollars extra for local channel access via cable.
Have you looked at the PBS website, or are you just channel surfing the guide ??
Perhaps the web version of your cable network guide will show something.

Best of luck, it is a good show!!

[one-eyed-fatman]

Originally Posted by FrankRizzoXD40

I know...

I was just talking about how the intelligence was either completely wrong or not current.

Frank

Don't ya have to feed the intelligence to someone that understands intelligence? In Washington these days intelligence is often confused with agenda.