Friday Afternoon News-dump, nothin special

Into the black hole of the weekend it goes. The Senate Intelligence Committee has something to say: Phase II of their investigation, the one conveniently stalled past 2004 elections.

Postwar Findings about Iraq's WMD Programs and Links to Terrorism and How they Compare with Prewar Assessments (PDF)

Pg 57: The 2002 National Intelligence Estimate that Admistration cheerleaders waved while saying "Boo!" lots of times was a put-up job.

For the Iraq/AQ links try Page 60 (63 of the PDF).

Short version: Basically it's as we've always known. "Curveball" threw our steely-eyed Warrior-Deciders a 15-mph curveball, with Chalabi/INC-brand spin on it. We were used by rank-amateurs and lots of intel pros knew as much, but the Neos didn't wanna listen. Saddam distrusted fundie terrorists, AQ specifically. Tried to infiltate AQ via his intelligence services in Syria to see what they were up to vis-a-vis making trouble in Iraq. He thought of AQ like a Red Sox fan admires an A-Rod homer. When he saw news of AQ attacks in Africa he said "those guys are effective," then he outlaws Bin Laden's Wahabbist creed and decrees death for anyone practicing it in Iraq. Gets mad when AQ leaders call him a non-believer and a fair-weather muslim. Tells them to get lost when they ask for $10 million to continue the fight against the Great Satan.

[Update: the "labs" were hydrogen gas/weather ballon support, SH tried to catch and kill Zarqawi not make friends with him, did not train terra-ists at Salman Pak, nukes were out of the picture since 91-92, the aluminum tubes were for rockets, and Saddam liked Swanson Hungryman TV dinners. Okay, I added that last one. Gotta give the dead-enders something they can claim taints the report.]

Pg 77: The DIA (Rummy's crew, not Tenet's) said in a 9/02 report that "Iraq is unlikely to have provided bin Laden any useful CB knowledge or assistance."

Nothing so far about the Mobile BioWeapons Labs Good Humor Trucks of Death, but I'm sure they're in there.

I blame Clinton.
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