Posted on 12/20/2005 9:04:45 AM PST by fragrant abuse
Bush admits Iraq failures hinders Iran strategy
President George W. Bush acknowledged on Monday that mistaken intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons program makes it more difficult to persuade the public that Iran's nuclear program poses a threat.
Speaking at a White House news conference, Bush said that when the United States tries to make its case on Iran, people will say "Well, the intelligence failed in Iraq; therefore, how can we can trust the intelligence in Iran?"
The United States is supporting efforts by Britain, Germany and France, known as the EU-3, to ensure that Iran doesn't develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is intended only to generate electricity.
Bush said that if diplomatic efforts fail, Iran could be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
But he added "it's no question that the credibility of intelligence is necessary for good diplomacy."
Asked if he intended to make the case against Iran publicly, Bush said "the best place to make the case now is still in the counsels of government; in convincing the EU-3, for example, to continue working the diplomatic angle. Of course we want this to be solved diplomatically, and we want the Iranians to hear a unified voice."
Maybe Murtha will support redeploying our troops to Iran.
Seems like the burden is on the USA to demonstrate the quality of our intelligence next time, but that should be the only burden.
Unfortunately, there is a greater burden that will not easily be overcome. This is the burden of division that has been established by the political left in our country. They are now challenging the whole concept of a War on Terror, whether we have been attacked, and whether we are really in one.
They are promoting 9/11 as a freak event spurred by a small and fragmented terror group rather than the first strike by a large, coordinated terror group operating under the protection of certain states.
This may sound like I made it up, but in our local papers, the Dem activists have been pushing this for months now in the letters-to-the-editors section. They quote Nueremburg trial statements to the effect that Bush has used 9/11 to create a sense of fear so that he can take over our country ala Hitler. Farenheit 911 has been absorbed by many and now is a perpective from which all facts are considered.
Its gonna be a much harder slog in the future.
You're right - sometimes I wonder if it's even possible for the US to defend herself properly anymore.
I think it's a smart move for the President to raise this publicly - admit that there were intel mistakes, and move on. The Iran crisis shows every sign that it could escalate next year and if we need to call up our military once again we have to defuse the "faulty intel" issue off the bat.
"Does the leftist argument that we went into Iraq on the basis of "bad" intelligence mean that we have to wait for Iran to develop nuclear weapons and an intercontinental delivery system that kills not thousands, but hundreds of thousands and, possibly, more than a million before the justification is present??"
Bing! This is precisely the line of argument we have to keep pushing.
Personally, I always thought it was weird that the administration's primary argument for doing Iraq was WMD and that Saddam's appalling abuse of Iraqis' human rights and getting democracy into the heart of the Middle East were secondary arguments until no WMDs turned up.
I guess they figured that a majority of Americans would not get behind it with those arguments - they were probably right.
In Iran, however, we are clearly facing an existential threat. We have to get the domestic politics right on this one so that we can act. Or we are screwed.
Faulty intelligence was also apparent in the Clinton Kosovo intervention. MANY serious and fatal mistakes were made due to inaccurate intelligence, before and during our illegal involvement there. Where are Clinton's apologies??
The President is feeding into the media's, our ally's and our enemy’s notion, that the U.S. has to be perfect before its officials opens their mouths. The logic is so putridly flawed that Americans should be choking from the stench. First, the art of intelligence orbits around "reasons to believe" not "certitude". If American officials and agencies were "Hollywood" smart, every threat to the planet would be averted by some gun wielding, conundrum solving blend between Steven Hawkins and Rambo. Americans, like everyone else are real people with real abilities. Second, if the burden of moral and intellectual perfection were on the authors of the Declaration of Independence, it never would have been published. “..All men are created equal..” yes, but back then, slaves were men and they were not born equal. Correcting that discrepancy was a bloody ordeal but its correction was, in part, a result of that founding document.
The president took action in Iraq on “reasons to believe” and the world is a better place for it! It was a leap of faith that could’ve been more graceful yes, but the fact that he took it, his administration took it, places G. W. alongside those who fundamentally changed the way mankind looks at the world. Our intelligence on Iran is far better than what we had on Iraq but the burden of perfection is an ill conceived and wrong headed approach to the issue. The actual burden is on Iran to demonstrate that it is not trying to develop nuclear arms and it has yet to do so. Is President Bush to blame for that?
LOL. This one really is a no-brainer, intel-wise.
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