Monday, April 04, 2005

Who's Really To Blame For The WMD Screwup?

Larry C. Johnson has a good followup to his whitewash piece at The Counterterrorism Blog.
The unfortunate impression left by the recent report on intelligence failures submitted by the Robb/Silbermann commission suggests that the CIA in general failed. Yet, as noted in a previous post on this site, we need to go beyond the generalities and look for the specifics of who failed. We need to look at the chain of command from the top down at CIA and ask who, if anyone, has been held accountable. The short answer is, not many. Keep on reading for specific names.

Would it surprise you to find out that the one guy who got it right is being turned into the fall guy?
Of the four, the one who got it right in the estimate was Paul Pillar. Yet, both President Bush and Vice President Cheney have continued to insist that Pillar's judgments on terrorism were wrong. Fortunately for Pillar his judgments have been endorsed by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the 9-11 Commission, among others. But Pillar is not out of danger. Only he has been attacked by reporters who are perceived as mouthpieces for the Bush Administration (Robert Novak and John Roberts). He has been called disloyal for the simple act of providing an assessment of what was happening in Iraq that did not square with the wishful thinking and rosy scenarios emanating from the West Wing of the White House. Message to analysts, be careful about telling the truth to the President because you will be accused of being disloyal.

And here's a message to America- be afraid, be very afraid. Because at just the moment when we need more independent thinking intelligence and security analysts, the Bush Administration is letting it be known that the only information that they want from the intelligence community is that which conforms to what they already believe.

Insestuous Amplification anyone?