Did Bush manipulate Iraq data?

[Occhidiangela]

RE#2: The Bush Administration did lie, and this is a very valid discussion point.

Yes, a very valid discussion point. Lie? At this point, I suggest that is a poorly chosen term.

I am as yet unsure of the following. Was it a matter of:

Drawing conclusions based on incomplete information?
Telling part of the truth?
Drawing erroneous conclusions based on flawed logic?
Blatant disinformation?

We shall see where in the above continuum it all falls. Beware of 'leaks' as a pristine source of The Truth. Take them, at the least, with a grain of salt. Most leaks are political tools of the leaker aimed at fulfilling a specific agenda, or made by someone with an axe to grind. Many of the DoD leaks about the 'plan' and 'troop levels' were blatantly political, or parochial, in motivation. On the other hand, sometimes a leak is as pure as a flawless diamond.

The level of uncertainty on the actual process, due to none of us in the public having all of the facts, (classification takes care of that) has not been answered in full, and I for one am looking forward to the formal report from the US Congress on this issue. I expect that will come out this fall. There are enough Democrats and some Republicans, such as Senator Hagel of Nebraska, whose reservations before the shooting war started have led them for some time to feel that they, in their classified briefings, were fed a line. Their own political credibility, as well as the Secretary of State's I might add, may have been stepped on. The Senators and Congressmen have a vested personal interest in clearing up the ambiguity. Their re- election bids next year are at stake, and they don't want anything but a pretty good showing insofar as what they signed up for. Given the amount of public attention this has attracted, I don't forsee a whitewash for that reason alone: for some of them, it is intensely personal and bears directly on their re-election prospects.

Politics as usual, in that regard.