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Here's my best (yet still evolving) take on this one. Intelligence information says exactly what the beholder wishes it to say. If you want the Iraqis to have been trying to acquire yellowcake from Nigeria, a report that references weak information and dubious sources will seem quite solid.

I believe Dubya and the team fell into a trap that trained intelligence professionals work their entire careers to overcome. When looking at this type of information, you have to be extremely careful not to let your hopes and fears enter into it. If you do, your call is clouded

That being said, this is an opportunity for the team to stand this whole Lefty-driven controversy on its head. Come out and admit you were wrong. Admit that your pre-conceived notions worked you on this one. Explain that with this lesson learned, you thereafter proceeded with extreme caution. That's why nobody in the Administration has been crowing about the various and sundry WMD discoveries and aren't going to until the story is in.