Plus, it is not goof to poke the Bear. Better to let them we know privately, and see what get accomplished back channel. Once everything is public knowledge, the Russianas are forced to deny and perhaps take steps which would be dangerous.
I see your point, that is indeed most likely what he was referring to.
Russia, whom we need to help with North Korea and also to keep pumping oil into the market. Plus, it is not goof to poke the Bear. Better to let them we know privately, and see what get accomplished back channel. Once everything is public knowledge, the Russianas are forced to deny and perhaps take steps which would be dangerous.
I have my doubts as to whether these reasons really justify the PR and national-honor hit Bush, and the nation, has taken since 2003. That is not to say you are wrong. For all I know, maybe it is indeed true that 1. there were WMDs, 2. Russia had a hand in moving them, 3. the administration knows this, but 4. is pretending not to publicly, because 5. they don't want to "risk a confrontation with Russia".
What I'm saying is that if that's all the case, I have my doubts as to the wisdom of the prioritization which fears the supposed "confrontation with Russia" that (supposedly) would have resulted from clarifying what happened to the WMDs (which by assumption in this discussion were moved), more than it fears the damage that has actually been done by letting lied-about-WMDs become conventional wisdom, which has caused our national honor to be horribly damaged, and the public's war-fighting morale utterly sapped.