Peter Reilley wrote:

The big one that is killing people now is; Saddam had WMD's.

He certainly acted as though he did. The US has inspected a small
percentage of the ammo dumps, who knows what they will find?

Are you following the process where blame for Bush's lies is being
shifted to the CIA. The CIA expressed reservations before the war but
Bush did not listen.

The Bush people "outed" a CIA agent to get back at her husband.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles...e.asp?ID=10694

THE PARTISAN CONTROVERSY over the outing of Valerie Plame, the
once-covert CIA analyst and wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV, seems
destined to go unresolved. Although the actions of two senior
administration officials may be felonious, a city that lives on leaked
information seems unlikely to produce the identity of either official
involved in the leak. However, the real story in this affair is the
media’s overblown coverage and the Left’s hypocritical outrage.

The media regularly presents the two “senior administration officials”
who exposed Plame’s CIA employment to Robert Novak in July as felons.
However, as Jack Shafer has pointed out on Slate, it’s not clear any
law has been broken. Under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act
of 1982, the person disclosing the covert agent’s identity must have
“authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert
agent” and must “intentionally” disclose it. Whether this official had
authorized or unauthorized knowledge of Ms. Plame’s status is not
clear. If the official’s knowledge was “unauthorized,” he/she
apparently could not be prosecuted.

To complicate matters, Plame may not fall under the technical legal
definition of a “covert” officer.
snip
Allegations have since surfaced that the same, nameless “senior
administration officials” had tried to plant Plame’s name and
occupation with a half-dozen other reporters without success, before
unloading the story on Novak. Novak denies the charge. Perhaps more
tellingly, since this story surfaced – citing a third nameless “senior
administration official” as its source – no reporter has come forward
to corroborate this charge. Does it seem plausible that the average
glory-seeking, leftist reporter approached by top White House brass
would remain silent, refusing to 1) accept the attendant publicity
that would go with making a breakthrough story; and 2) indict the Bush
Administration as a gang of liars? Much less that six reporters would
remain silent for nearly four months? The thought strains credulity.


The Plame controversy actually had its genesis with the “16 words
controversy.” In early 2002, Vice President Dick Cheney had heard
questions raised about reports that Saddam Hussein had tried to
purchase yellowcake uranium in Niger. He asked the CIA to look into
the matter, and the Agency dispatched former Ambassador Joe Wilson to
look into matters. Wilson carried out his tough interrogation over
“eight days drinking sweet mint tea and meeting with dozens of people”
– at poolside, on occasion – before inexplicably finding nothing. In
July, the story broke that a fact-finding investigation on Niger’s
yellowcake had been undertaken and concluded that Saddam never tried
to purchase uranium there. Wilson promptly confessed he was the
diplomat who undertook this “investigation.” Thus was President Bush’s
State of the Union Address derided as “lies” by the Left – on the
basis of Wilson’s African vacation!



Wilson was an odd choice, indeed. He has keynoted before the Education
for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC), which opposed the Iraqi liberation,
the sanctions against Saddam and even the no-fly zones protecting
Saddam’s former victims. Wilson is also an “adjunct fellow” at the
Saudi-funded Middle East Institute. His flaming leftist shilling has
graced the pages of Nation, where he wrote, “The new imperialists will
not rest until governments that ape our worldview are implanted
throughout the region.” Finally, he gave the maximum campaign
contribution allowed by law to Al Gore’s 2000 Presidential campaign.
(Plame gave $1,000 herself.) Indeed, Wilson worked for Gore in the
1980s. In recent years, he has supported (and formally endorsed) Sen.
John Kerry.



Bob Novak asked the predictable question: Why was Wilson, a career
diplomat with no CIA background, no investigative experience and a
political axe to grind against George W. Bush, sent on such a
sensitive mission? (Perhaps Novak should have also asked why
authorities accepted Wilson’s incompetent trip as the final word,
particularly when British intelligence still claims the story is
accurate.)



These two things have probably done more damage to the CIA
than anything in a long time. Will the CIA risk giving the president
any meaningful intelligence in the future? Not likely.

Are they now? Why did they send Wilson, a political hack, to Nigeria?

Will CIA agents risk their lives overseas when they may be exposed by
their government for political gain? Not likely.

That's part of the risk. Getting wasted by the politicians.

If anyone had any hope that the CIA would be of any use in this
stupid "war against terrorism" those hopes are now dashed.
The terrorists are going to win because we are stabbing ourselves
in the back. They must be enjoying the show.

You finally got something right.

The Moslems and other third worlders get their main impression of the
US from CNN and the sleazy films out of Hollywood.