Who read the pre-war intelligence estimates? Michael sez:
Is it any wonder this whole thing is a mess? I don’t expect Senators or House members to read every single bill that goes through Congress. But a document that was going to take us to war and cost thousands of American lives?
People like that should be disqualified from running for President. We don’t need another screw-up in the White House.
Only 6 Senators and a handful of Congresscritters actually read the estimate before voting for the Iraq War Resolution. I get what Michael is saying and on principle, he's right. My only objection is that the estimate was wrong. Really, really wrong. So, in the case of Iraq, reading the estimate wouldn't have helped anyone make an informed decision.
Why would Clinton, McCain and the others that didn't read the estimate vote for the authoriztion to use force? We've been hearing about Saddam's weapons programs for YEARS. Years before Bush took office. I had no reason to doubt the claims since they were made by everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike. Neither did Clinton McCain, Dodd and the rest. Reading the estimate would've only confirmed what they already believed, it wouldn't have changed their initial vote. As proof, I'll point to John Edwards. Edwards read the report and voted for authorization.
That said, Michael's point is a valid one. Voting for something as serious as using force without reading all the intelligence available isn't exactly something we want in a leader. We already know what having an uninformed Cinc is like, no? I'd rather have a President that makes decisions after weighing all the available information than one that makes decisions based on word of mouth.
R.I.P. Steven Malcolm Anderson
Run Al, run.
Screw that...
The people who took us to war should be removed from the office of President.
IJS.
Wake up, people: why are we blaming everyone EXCEPT the very people who made this mess to begin with?
It's like Bush saying: "Y'all were too dumb to stop me so I'm not accountable."
Nice try. I ain't buyin'.
Paraphrasing Rose: "Cooking all the intelligence available isn't exactly something we want in a leader."
You think??
No way anyone had a chance to read it all.
No way Bush read it before he signed it into law.
That's how we got that little addendum in the Patriot Act that let Gonzales replace US Attorneys without Congressional oversight. That's how removing habeas corpus got through the military commissions act.
This process is a feature, not a bug of an overreaching executive and all too influential bureacracy.
Rose, Edwards did NOT read the entire NIE, but was briefed on it.
I don't know if this makes a difference one way or the other, and undoubtedly that's how a lot of this stuff has to work since politicians obviously don't have as much time as us bloggers to read everything out there.
I saw this via Carpetbagger referencing NYTime's Caucus blog:
Accuracy is always a good thing.
The NIE, don't forget, was just a summary of all the intel reports they had been reading right along. They both knew the intel better than most humans whether they read every word of the NIE or not.
Knowing what they already knew from all the reports the NIE was based on, I doubt they would have changed their votes. NOW, however, Edwards says he was wrong, and McCain can't admit this was a collosal mistake and would compound this tragedy.
They both made a bad choice in the heat of the moment, as did the vast majority of the entire country. Now, in retrospect with a chance to see the consequences, Edwards has displayed good judgment in reevaluating his position -- McCain shows no judgment at all.
What's more important in a leader, always making the right choices or having the good judgment to acknowledge and correct errors? Except for Ron Paul, every GOPer will continue the war, and every Dem will end it -- period.
Well, McCain is at least owning it. He's criticized the Admin on the handling of the war but he knows, from his own personal experience, what could happen if we pull out. I also think that he, like many of us, realize we fucked up but it's our mess and we have the responsibility to clean it up.
But he wouldn't be able to get away with it, because LeBron James would slam dunk the duck.