October 17, 2002
Faking the Case for War
Americans will die over Bush's lies
According to a report in The LA Times, the Bush administration has been pressuring the CIA to tailor its reports in order to help build a case against Saddam Hussein, to create a link to al Qaeda that does not exist. This information is attributed to congressional and intelligence sources.According to the LA Times, "Evidence of the differences between the agency and the White House surfaced publicly this week when CIA Director George J. Tenet sent a letter to lawmakers saying the Iraqi president is unlikely to strike the United States unless provoked.
"That was at odds with statements from Bush and others that Iraq poses an immediate threat. In a speech Monday in Cincinnati, Bush said the danger that Iraq poses to the United States 'is already significant, and it only grows worse with time.'"
As David Corn in The Nation said, "If there is the slightest truth to this report, it ought to trigger an outcry and a scandal. Imagine rigging intelligence to shape the outcome of a debate that determines whether American lives are lost (and Iraqi lives are taken) overseas. How foul and sinister can a bureaucrat get? An article of this sort should cause members of the House and Senate to rush before microphones and declare they will not rest until they determine if the allegations hold up. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz should be fired if they are unduly leaning on nothing-but-the-facts analysts. But, as of yet, the Times story has caused no public ripples."
-- By David Cogswell