"Before and after the Israeli strike. A nice clean-up job by the Syrians."
-idf strike in syria-
Posted on 12/07/2007 10:07:36 PM PST by gpapa
President Bush has been scrambling to rescue his Iran policy after this week's intelligence switcheroo, but the fact that the White House has had to spin so furiously is a sign of how badly it has bungled this episode. In sum, Mr. Bush and his staff have allowed the intelligence bureaucracy to frame a new judgment in a way that has undermined four years of U.S. effort to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions.
This kind of national security mismanagement has bedeviled the Bush Presidency. Recall the internal disputes over post-invasion Iraq, the smearing of Ahmad Chalabi by the State Department and CIA, hanging Scooter Libby out to dry after bungling the response to Joseph Wilson's bogus accusations, and so on. Mr. Bush has too often failed to settle internal disputes and enforce the results.
What's amazing in this case is how the White House has allowed intelligence analysts to drive policy. The very first sentence of this week's national intelligence estimate (NIE) is written in a way that damages U.S. diplomacy: "We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program." Only in a footnote below does the NIE say that this definition of "nuclear weapons program" does "not mean Iran's declared civil work related to uranium conversion and enrichment."
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
One of Bush REAL failures was in not fumigating the CIA, State Dept., and Dept of Justice of all the Clinton moles.
Bush has been under full scale assault from the CIA and Stateless Department from day one. In hindisght, Bush should have fired them all (ala Clinton).
The “new tone in Washington.”
Stupid article. First this stupid NIE hack job did not change the policy of President Bush toward Iran. The President went out of his way in the last three days to tell the world and the terrorist regime in Iran that nothing has changed regarding the US policy toward Iran nuclear program, they are going to be stopped from enriching uranium which is the most important element to make nukes. The President is saying now what he has been saying for the last two years on this issue.
Why did he allow Porter Goss to be hung out to dry? Goss was attempting to do just that but once a few bureaucratic feathers were ruffled Bush folded like a cheap suitcase. There's some very strange and disturbing stuff going on on the security front, with spooks operating as an opposition goverenment and defying properly elected officials. Just what the hell did Frank Church and Stansfield Turner set into motion?
The International Left has studiously ignored the Syrian nuke strike even more than Bill Clinton’s avoidance of dealing with Bin Laden when he had the opportunity in 1993, when OBL first attacked the (now extant) Twin Towers.
Thank you, thank you. This guy in the White House is a poster boy for what not to elect as Pubbies. He has shown that this corrupt "Two-Party Cartel" is our problem. You all here elected him because the opposite choice was worse. The worst is to keep voting in this corrupt cartel. Will we have a "French Revolution" or will be be taken over & become slaves to Bush's New World Order or The Hilabeast's commie, fascists gov. Nice outlook, right.
The problems at the State Department [known as “foggy bottom”] and CIA predate Bill Clinton by many, many years. The Federal bureaucracy has defined the illness known as “inside the beltway” at least since FDR.
Many of the Federal departments have a life of their own. Since they all tend to to protect their own turf by aggrandizing power and money to themselves, the result tends to be larger and more intrusive government.
The State Department has never been known to hold our enemies accountable, but they don’t seem to mind putting our friends at risk. Jimmy Carter was known for keeping the Soviets happy while stabbing our friends in the back. I would find it quite easy to believe that all of his inept policies originated from foggy bottom. He certainly seemed to be in concert with their usual drivel.
The problems with the CIA seem to have been worse during the last 15 years. I am not familiar with the politics, but I would suspect that some of the Congressional oversight that occurred after Iran-Contra may have strengthened the hand of the appeasers. It certainly gutted the agency of its ability to gather “gray” intelligence.
There’s a girl in charge of the State Dept. It just doesn’t work.
Hard to believe that you can invade a country but can’t fire your own intelligence people for messing up. How many UN resolutions does it take to get rid of these people?
When you have renegades in the CIA and the State Department, you are at their mercy. They should be cleaned out immediately, by way of the courts, being tried for treason.
Sounds like Bush is winning, and the MSM is spinning it as a loss...
Excellent
And just how do the folks at WSJ figure that the President is at fault? Did he go over and interview everyone involved and write up the two conflicting reports? Maybe the editorial writers ought to look into why the two reports, two years apart can be so different.
I agree. The Plame affair got me thinking along these lines. I know plenty of others have commented to the same effect, but I was thinking this on my own. You know how that goes - "Yeah! That's what I was about to say!"
I've always thought that the Bush Presidency is politically weak, with these CIA issues as exhibit A. This is in stark contrast to the hysterical Dem rhetoric which paints him as a fascist dictator. What are those guys smoking? Marijuana, I guess!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.