How Did We Get It So Wrong?: "The intelligence community's overestimation of Iraq's WMD capability is only part of the story of why we went to war last year. The other part involves how the Bush administration handled the intelligence. Throughout the spring and fall of 2002 and well into 2003 I received numerous complaints from friends and colleagues in the intelligence community, and from people in the policy community, about precisely that.
... The CIA, the state department, and the uniformed military services would present one version, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Office of the Vice President would present another. These views were too far apart to allow for compromise. As a result, the administration found it difficult, if not impossible, to make important decisions. And it made some that were fatally flawed, including many relating to postwar planning, when the OSP's view - that Saddam's regime simultaneously was very threatening and could easily be replaced by a new government - prevailed.
... we should recognize that the administration's rush to war was reckless even on the basis of what we thought we knew in March 2003. It appears even more reckless in light of what we know today. "
- posted by geoff @ #