No one seems to be writing opinion pieces quite the way I would, so I decided to do it myself.

The name? Taverns are places where one goes to discuss the interesting events and things in the world, so this is my tavern.

I will offer my views on politics, economics, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I will occasionally publish the entire article from another journal for purposes of causing discussion.

 

Republican Senator Pat Roberts blames CIA for Intelligence Failures

The finger-pointing and blame game is really getting hot in Washington now, because the public perception is that the White House misused Intelligence in order to influence support for their preemptive war against Iraq. Senator Roberts has reported that the problem is that the Intelligence Community passed flawed intelligence to the White House.

Knight Ridder offers the following:

The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing a report evaluating why U.S. intelligence about the threat that Saddam Hussein's Iraq posed to U.S. interests exaggerated the severity of the threat. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the panel's chairman, was quoted Friday as saying the White House was served badly by the CIA, which provided "sloppy" prewar intelligence.

Sen. John "Jay" Rockefeller, D-W.Va., responded Friday by saying that Roberts was trying to "lay all of this out on the intelligence community and never get to any other branches of government; in particular the White House and associated high and visible government agencies."

A senior administration official, who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, said Roberts' CIA comments were issued with Cheney's encouragement. The official said Cheney is trying to shift the blame for the lack of progress in Iraq, which is becoming an issue in next year's presidential and congressional elections, from the White House to the CIA. The Roberts aide denied that encouraged Roberts to criticize the CIA.

Once again this administration is attempting to use public relations, the Republican right-wing lock-step lie machine, and misdirection to blame someone else for their own failures. Apparently Karl Rove is getting antsy about their image as they begin to count down to November 2004.
posted by Richard at 5:39 PM