[Religion and Politics]

I'm glad Buzzfeed published because it exposed CNN completely and diffused the whole thing as fake.

It is now apparent also that all the Russia stuff seems to be a RESULT of this piece which goes back to January 2016 in its roots. All that we are seeing with all the interest from the intelligence community is the result of a particular intelligence paradigm.

This is what seems to have happened in the lead up to the Iraq invasion. And yes, I supported that and believed the presentation and the case for invasion, and that WMD would be found, or was spirited off to Syria, or whatever; but I am more honest with myself now and see the very real possibility of seeing what one wants to see by the snapping on of the filter of one's choice.

The REASON I am upset about the Iraq intelligence is that I think that intelligence and the policies following helped to subvert the GW Bush administration and ultimately brought us to where we are today.

[Political Junkie Too]

I still think the WMDs were caravaned to Syria. Where I do see similarities is in the yellowcake stories that led to Valerie Plame sending husband Joe Wilson to Niger.

-PJ

[nathanbedford]

I agree with your very perceptive reply. A few years ago I published a vanity styled "Mea Culpa," reciting the same personal Odyssey and ultimately coming to exactly the same conclusions you have reached. Those conclusions include, as you said, bringing us to the point where we are today which means bringing us through eight years of Barack Obama.

That fate might have been diverted, although unlikely, if George Bush had fought his corner and defended his administration. I cannot forget an interview of Karl Rove in which he said that he went to George Bush advising him to fight back against the opposition which boiled down to, "Bush lied and people died," but Bush declined to do so. He preferred to believe that he would be vindicated in history.

I think this is typical of the Bush family, they are loyal to their family, they are loyal to friends, but they have minimal loyalty either to the Republican Party or to conservatism. They regard politics as a smarmy occupation, necessary to indulge in in order to obtain power to engage in statesmanship, but otherwise unworthy of them.

Meanwhile, it is not just the intelligence community which needs fumigating but State, and almost every domestic agency. Obviously, the Defense Department requires a whole new way of thinking and procurement in order to make the country safe in the brave new world we are entering.