Posted on 05/02/2007 7:10:00 PM PDT by HawaiianGecko
LONDON - London underestimated U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's influence in the Iraq war, Britain's defense secretary during much of the war told a London newspaper Wednesday, adding another voice to the growing view that the U.S.-led coalition failed to plan properly for the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's ouster.
But Geoff Hoon, who was defense secretary in Prime Minister Tony Blair's government from 1999 until 2005, said intelligence officials had believed Saddam was amassing weapons of mass destruction and that the allies did not lie about why they went to war.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Hoon said "we didn't plan for the right sort of aftermath."
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Intel experts were 'absolutely sure' (Defense Secretary) Hoon defended the decision to go to war on the basis of intelligence that believed Iraq was building up an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction intelligence he now accepts was wrong.
"I've been present at a number of meetings where the intelligence community was fixed, and looked in the eye and asked are you absolutely sure about this? And the answer came back 'Yes, absolutely sure,'" Hoon was quoted as saying.
Hoon said he felt no need to apologize.
"You can say 'it did not turn out as we expected' and 'we made some bad calls,' but at the end of the day I defy anyone to go through what we went through and come to a different conclusion," he was quoted as saying.
MSM - “We Underestimated the Size of Our Penis”
IMHO opinion this is a first for everybody. Mistakes will be made and learned from. If the Al-dimocRATS had been in power they would have assumed the fetal position and would be begging for peace. Thank the Lord that GWB was president.
So, WHY was the intel wrong? Something doesn’t add up, never has.
The intelligence erred because the Incarnation of Satan (Dick Cheney) corrupted it. Everyone knows that President William Jefferson Clinton successfully convinced Saddam Hussein to forswear any illicit weapons entirely and that only the United States of America ever could possess any weapons of mass destruction.
So reports The New York Times.
Saddam kicked the last of the UN inspectors out in 1988. Clinon decimated our intelligence services with budget cuts.
Intel? We don’t need no steenkin intel! Bush was supposed to rebuild our world-wide intelligence network in 8 months I suppose.
I rather think it would have been the "grab the ankles" posture. More their style.
That's because it wasn't wrong.
In a sane world, the real question which we should be asking is "WHERE are the WMDs and WHO has them?". Of course, honest answers to those questions would topple several governments and destroy many careers.
Mass hysteria at the political level. Iraq has been our whipping boy for over a decade, the perfect foil to move headlines for presidents, senators, representatives, and others worldwide. Problem was, they got caught up in their own whirlwind and actually believed it - say something long enough and it becomes true. A more discerning leader not surrounded by drum-beaters would have ignored the noise and focused on the problem. Bush is not a discerning leader; never was.
Given that Hussein engaged in repeated acts of war against us after 9/11, I take that you think we should have ignored his attacks on our military.
Correct. In a sane world Occum’s Razor applies. Which is most likely and the most simple. Every intelligence organization on the planet being wrong on the same subject at the same time, or they were moved?
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