The CIA lobs one back

by Mary

Posted by Mary
Well, well, well. Turns out the CIA was not happy with yesterday's news that they were at fault for the bad intelligence Bush used to sell his war. From the NY Times:

The Central Intelligence Agency responded angrily on Friday to new Congressional criticism of its handling of prewar intelligence about Iraq's suspected illicit weapons program. At a briefing at C.I.A. headquarters, four senior intelligence officials said that a top-secret internal review now underway had found no evidence of faulty work.

"What it has shown us is that the judgments were not only sound, they were very sound, and backed up by more than one source," a senior intelligence official said of the review, which is being conducted under orders from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence.

The blame game looks like the hot potato as one side blames the other, and there are more than enough players trying to make sure they are not left holding the bag. From the San Jose Mercury comes this morsel:

A senior administration official, who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, said Roberts' CIA comments were issued with Cheney's encouragement. The official said Cheney is trying to shift the blame for the lack of progress in Iraq, which is becoming an issue in next year's presidential and congressional elections, from the White House to the CIA. The Roberts aide denied that [Cheney] encouraged Roberts to criticize the CIA.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the official said, also is seeking to blame the CIA for problems in Iraq and the lack of success in the war against al-Qaida, both to deflect blame from the executive branch and to renew his bid for greater Pentagon control over intelligence operations.

Added a second senior official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity: "It's a little bit of a dangerous game to say intelligence is the first line of defense in the war against terrorism - which it is - then go out and publicly tear down your intelligence service."

Once again, it seems that the NY Times continues to play it very safe on this story with no mention of anyone in the White House. The Knight-Ridder newspaper is much more willing to point to the biggest name: Dick Cheney. (Yeah!) Read both articles and see if you agree.