How did this Goodman fool ever get a job with the CIA? What's evident is that we have a group of disgruntled former CIA people trying to bring down the Administration. When will this become a news story?
Mel Goodman, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and former CIA analyst,Mel Goodman, online Tuesday, June 10 at 1 p.m. ET, discussing the issues surrounding the intelligence community and Bush administration's reports of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons before the war.
The credibility of the intelligence community and the Bush administration is being scrutinized by critics who question the grounds for invading Iraq. Were intelligence reports flawed, exaggerated or manipulated by the administration? Where are the banned weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?
The transcript follows.
Snipped!
Mel Goodman: I don't expect intelligence analysts to go public with their stories but they could go to the Senate and House intelligence committees and their own Inspector Generals with stories of misuse and abuse of intelligence material. NSA analysts leaked material when the KAL 007 documents were abused by the Reagan administration, and the Tower Commission on Irancontra documents misuse and abuse in the 1980s as well. This is serious business and the integrity of the intelligence community is the Holy Grail for intelligence analysts.
Mel Goodman: Our intelligence has been so wrong and so politicized over the past twenty years (since Bill Casey and Bob Gates) that the integrity of the CIA has been hurt badly. It started with the CIA paper on the so-called Soviet role in the Papal Plot (1981), which was a fabrication. CIA tergiversation on NMD contributed to the image of politicization and now this. Once credibility is challenged it is hard to regain it.
Then Mel turned angry when confronted:
Cumberland, Md.: I am stunned by the idea that you consider this SERIOUS -- you must be a Democrat trying to make political capital for 2004.
I can think of lots of really plausible reasons why we can't find the weapons IMMEDIATELY which means we will eventually find them.
1. He could of disposed of them before the attack.
2. They could have been spirited out of the country by Baath loyalists.
3. They could be buried somewhere in Iraq and since many involved in these weapon production are subject to war crimes trials they are not anxious to tell us about them.
4. We did find Mobile weapons labs.
5. Saddam never accounted for tons of WMD such as Sarin, VX, Mustard gas and Anthrax.
6. He was obviously hiding something else why would he decide to fight the US rather than "bare all" to the UN Weapon's Inspectors.
7. WHy did he insist on "minders" or "tape recordings" for interviews of scientists with the UN?
8. What was he doing the 4 years when there were no inspections in the country?
9. Ties to Al-Quaeda have been proved -- Ansar-al-Islam in the North and harboring and treating of al-Zarqawi.
I could go on and on and on -- you seem to have a political agenda and are using this forum to advance it.
I am sure you want publish this as it would embarrass you too much!!
Mel Goodman: Of course, I'm going to respond to your question because this is the classic apologist list of items to defend the Bush administration. But the burden of proof is on you. Where is the WMD? Where are the agents? Where are the nukes? Taken to a third country? You must be kidding. You are all hat and no cattle, as they say in Texas.
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