When it's apparent that the CIA intel screwed up the approach to Iraq, why do people blame Bush?

Question

A number of reputable people from the military, and the CIA have acknowledged this in interviews, if you weren't aware. (including former CIA director George Tenet)

Answer 1

It's all politics hon. The dems are pandering to public opinion for votes. Public opinion is not always correct. This is my favorite excerpt from an article about why we invaded Iraq:

The reasons for invading Iraq are many. Here is my list:

1. Saddam was a madman. He was butchering his own people, he was out of control. Name another Islamic regime headed by a butchering madman.

2. Iraq was not cooperating in the war against terrorism.

3. Saddam hated the US for spoiling his takeover of Kuwait and embarrassing him in the Gulf War. He had tried to build nuclear arms in the past, after 9/11 we could not risk that he would feel emboldened by that event and try again.

4. Saddam had contacts with Al Queida. At what levels, we could not know, but we could not risk their collaboration. We could not risk letting another sanctuary for Al Queida exist.

5. Iraq is geographically in the ideal position to confront Islamic terrorists. Situated between our “friends” in Saudi Arabia and the true evil force of Islam – Iran. If we could control Iraq, the Middle East would have a hard time exploding in war. Make no mistake, Iran is the real enemy and has been since 1979. And make no mistake, Islamic terrorists desire the end to Saudi Arabia’s monarchy over all else. Their holiest city, Mecca, is in Saudi Arabia.

6. But, the number one reason for invading Iraq was that Saddam would not permit UN arms inspections. Although we may never know if he was building WMDs, he absolutely wanted the world (his enemies) to THINK he might me. At best, Saddam was playing a dangerous game of poker and bluffing. At worst, he had WMDs. Either way, we could not just sit and play poker with him after 9/11 (just as I don’t think we can play poker with Iran now), he either had to allow inspections or be invaded.

Why do liberals seem to forget that Saddam refused to allow inspections and that was why we invaded? The answer is that liberals are simply clutching at straws, looking for any reason to oppose the President.

Answer 2

George Tenet also said the Cheney was over at the CIA very often to pressure analyst. Another reason we blame Bush are those 16 words in the state of the union address: "the British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa .” George Tenet had that removed from earlier speeches. The French, German, and Turkish intelligence services said it wasn't true. Joseph Wilson said it wasn't true. Even The British intelligence later said it wasn't true. And why would an American President ignore his own people and use a British intelligence briefing that our CIA said wasn't true? Also, Bush said in his Biography when he was govenor of Texas that we would invade Iraq if given the chance. Why not take him at his word?

Answer 3

What you are missing in the CIA testimony is that the Bush administration pressured the CIA and FBI both to alter their assessments in order to match the administrations. Bush carried the Iraq invasion forward knowing the WMD info, the uranium cake info, and the claim that Saddam was helping terrorist info was false. How can you not blame Bush and his idiotic band of misfits?

Answer 4

If you believe that it is all the CIA's fault you are extremely naive.

The CIA was put in position to take the fall from the very beginning. Listed to Tenet talk and he says the CIA concluded that there were WMD and then in the next sentence says the president misrepresented their intel. I can't tell what the heck he is trying to say. I don't know if any spy has ever spoken more and said less more effectively than George Tenet.

Answer 5

Given the information provided from the in country inspections, Saddam's dismal compliance with the UN inspectors, other intelligence from around the globe and his history of gassing his enemies - including the Kurds, I honestly believe President Bush acted in the best interest of the security and protection of the American people.

Hindsight is always 20/20 - unfortunately, it isn't available when the tough decisions have to be made.
Prior to the invasions and in previous administrations, perhaps tough decisions should have been made that were not - for political reasons, lack of leadership or to protect ones personal legacy.
We should not return to these policies of inaction and no effective response that failed so miserably and arguably led to the events of 9/11.
I don't believe people in general blame Bush - I believe his political opponents and anti-war, at-any-cost or consequence zealots blame Bush.

Answer 6

You are correct. We are to support our President, and be in prayer, not to be condemning him. He sure does beat the alternative , huh? The president knows that if we give in to those ppl, we will all be forced to become muslims or be killed. God says not to murder, but He doesnt say not to self defend yourself or your country. All you who want any freedom at all, had better be behidn the President and suporting Him. You get a liberal in there and just says what we want to hear, the war is done, you best get ready for your country to be attacked and taken over. If you value freedom at all, support President Bush. and for you athiest that dont believe in any of this and will never be Christian, well at least here you do have a choice huh/ Once the muslims take over, you wont have a choice. Their Quoran says all infidels THOSE NOT MUSLIM< will be killed, so if you wont be Christian, I guess that becoming a Muslim is ok. WE must pray for our leaders and pray for Jerusalem. The cost of losing this war will be brutal.... are we ready to take that chance?
great comments KJ

Answer 7

I had quite a good answer for your question but an unexplained error would'nt let it post.

I tried more thsan once. This Yahoo feature is known to censor answers.

Saddam Husein was an enemy of Osama bin-Laden. The Bush family and the bin-Laden family have been friends for years.

It was easier for Dubya to get to Saddam than to chase his friend. The CIA had put Saddam in Power and trained Osama when he was fighting the Russians in Afganistan.

I hope this answer clears the censors.

Answer 8

The CIA told Bush before the invasion that the information on Saddam's WMD program "was most likely inaccurate." they even had him strip references to Saddam's WMD program out of his SotU address, but he made reference to it anyway.
Bush did not want to wait.

Nigerian Yellow cake papers, weren't even reviewed by intelligence officials prior to the invasion, or it would have been found that they were obvious frauds.
Bush didn't want to wait.

President Clinton told Bush when he was entering office, that Osama Bin Laddan and Al Queda were the greatest threats to American security. Bush disagreed saying it was Saddam, and he was going to pursue that.

Bush had his mind made up that he was going to invade Iraq, no matter how he had to get the job done. I don't care what anyone in the Bush admin says right now about the intelligence being flawed, because those of us who kept up on it, know that the only flawed intelligence was the British intelligence that Bush was using rather than waiting for our intelligence officials to verify the British reports.
Here is a report about what they knew, and it was all guesses.
http://www.butlerreview.org.uk/report/report.pdf

Answer 9

Yup it is Bush's fault, every bad thing that ever has happened is Bush's fault. He killed Elvis, caused Pearl Harbor, bombed the twin towers and was the shooter on the grassy knoll.
Remember the media quoted "sources in the Bush Administration" He has a time machine, didn't you know that?

Answer 10

It's alot easier to bash your political opponents without any logical basis, nevermind that Clinton, Kennedy Gore et al were saying the same thing in the 90s and early 2000s.

Every official government report has stated quite unequivocally that no "pressure" was brought to bear on any intelligence agency. This is a canard.

Congress actually didn't officially declare war on Iraq, as mandated under the US Constitution, and hasn't since WWII. So that's another issue to deal with.