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April 1, 2005

Report: U.S. "Dead Wrong" on WMDs in Iraq

Between the life and death of Terri Schiavo, and the deteriorating health of the Pope, one could not be blamed for overlooking this piece of news -- U.S. intelligence agencies were "dead wrong" about WMDs in Iraq.

Other than restating the obvious, this presidential commission does however shed more light on the attitude of the Bush Administration and members of Congress (including Democrats). I find it interesting that no blame was laid upon the President nor his administration. In fact, the report acts to distance the President from the issue arguing inter-agency "turf wars" and bungling were to blame. Bush apparently agreed with the report's findings stating that, "The central conclusion is one that I share...America's intelligence community needs fundamental change."

I can just see it now, more federal dollars will go to "revamp" America's ailing intelligence community. What's funny is Bush and his Republican supporters are the ones pushing for smaller government.

Bush's response to this report reminds me of former WorldCom exec, Bernie Ebbers. Before being convicted, Ebbers' defence for his unprecedented fraud was that he wasn't adept at the complexities of WorldCom's accounting. This coming from a guy who built a multi-billion dollar company from scratch. Fortunately, the courts didn't believe his ridiculous claim.

Bush's defence for the war on Iraq as it relates to intelligence is similar -- How is it the President's fault? After all wasn't he the victim of poor intelligence? The correct answer of course is: Yes, it is his fault. He's the President of the United States of America and it's his job to know what's going on in his own backyard!

It would seem that 'accountability' has been out of style in the business world for a while now. Pundits argue that the worse is yet to come. Bush has demonstrated (quite amazingly I might add) that accountability means very little in government today. As the Bush Administration pushes for privatization of government services (e.g. Social Security) America's future does indeed seem bleak. One can only wonder what it will take before its citizens step-up and cry, "Bullsh*t!" and make Bush accountable for his actions.

Posted by Jason at April 1, 2005 10:19 AM