Letter: Prewar intelligence ignored by Bush team

Wednesday, May 30, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

For several years now we've heard lame excuses and phrases from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney and others when questioned by news/talk-show hosts about why we were so unprepared for what has unfolded in Iraq since our invasion. I distinctly remember hearing Rice and Rumsfeld say things like "Nobody knew things would be so difficult" and "Certainly nobody anticipated some of the problems we've ... blah, blah, blah" to Tim Russert and others. Like nobody could have known.

Well, guess what. They're liars. Prewar intelligence reports and summaries released Friday by the Senate Intelligence Committee lay out how Bush's war Cabinet was warned that ousting Saddam Hussein would:

Bush and his war C abinet were warned that what has happened in Iraq would happen, but to date none of them has ever shown the integrity and courage to stand in front of a camera and flatly admit they screwed up by disregarding the prewar intelligence. And, sorry, Condi, but "certainly mistakes were made" does not erase all the previous B.S.

Oh, well, maybe some future mea culpa book tours will make everything all better.

Bob Coffman, Las Vegas