Letter: Intelligence was irrelevant to Bush

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2004 | 8:58 a.m.

It wasn't intelligence (CIA) but lack of IQ and manipulation of information by the Bush administration that took us to war. In the administration's first national security meetings in February 2001, al-Qaida wasn't on the table but taking down Saddam and Iraq was. Intelligence was irrelevant, the Bush administration was waiting for an excuse to mobilize a nation around a desired war. Osama bin Laden, an Arab as were most 9-11 terrorists (no Iraqis), gave the Bush administration the excuse.

When contradictory intelligence was presented, it was ignored. Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki told a congressional committee that it might take several hundred thousand troops to occupy Iraq. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz laughed him off the administration's premises.

When Larry Lindsey, the President's chief economic adviser, stated it might cost up to a couple hundred billion dollars to occupy Iraq, he was tossed to the street.

The Bush administration ignored the State Department's postwar planning in its rush into Baghdad to secure the oil ministry, establish bases, strip Iraq and the U.S. economy, and turn over leftovers to Ahmed Chalabi and move on to Syria and Iran.

Sam Gardiner, an Air Force colonel who taught for years at the National War College, assessed post-war Iraq and predicted accurately the present problems only to be ignored by the administration.

The Bush administration, to avoid responsibility for lying and reckless decisions, will try to blame the CIA while protecting the CIA by choosing an "old boy" commission to absolve it.

PAT KELSO