Originally posted by EternalOne:
Quote:

You think that the most rigidly controlled, hard-driving, well-funded, and ruthless administration in history is not capable of exerting whatever influence is necessary to manipulate the content of U.S. government intelligence assessments? How innocent your world must be. You believe in unicorns, too?



Caltour, do you wear a tinfoil hat, too? I can, from FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE tell you that the intel was not manipulated. I have not been in the Marines for over 7 years now, during my stay I was one of ten different intel officers who had to sign-off on briefings that were headed to the White House. Once signed off, the briefings were reclassified in the system, and the paper copy was sealed for delivery.

So, you're telling me that somehow the current sitting President twisted someones arm to make them lie on these reports? I was signing off on reports 10 years ago making a case for war in Iraq, did President Bush twist my arm back then too? God I wish they would declassify some of these documents -- it'd shut you up quickly, as I know for a fact that many of the points you are making are completely false. Of course, declassifing some of these documents would only endanger active intel roles in the Middle East -- but maybe that's what you want?

Frankly, you have no clue what you are talking about -- go grab some McD's, sit back in your lazyboy, and enjoy the freedoms that the men on the frontlines are upholding. Let the guys who know whats going on do the work. Until you are willing to a) put your ass on the line, or b) put your skills to good use for our country -- I could care less what you have to say, its just mindless, uninformed conspiracy BS.

E1



You tell us you were in the Marines over seven years ago, and you had some role in providing briefings that were sent to the White House. You say this gives you standing to assure us that the intel Bush received was not influenced or spun by his handlers for political purposes. [ sound of supressed laughter]

Do you really know exactly what happened to the reports you "signed off on" after they left your hands? Do you just assume they were not culled by higher ups, or edited or spun or shredded by some political operative before they ever made it to a decisionmaker's desk? No offense intended, but do you really think that one individual Marine (who was below many other people in the intelligence supply chain) knows exactly what information reached the administration's decisionmakers? And did you somehow have perfect access at all steps along the way, so that you personally knew if any political pressure was applied to generate some convenient "facts", or to support certain political conclusions? No. You were one cog in a very large wheel. And it is SOP in intelligence to keep each cog in the dark as much as possible.

And do you think the president got intelligence only through the agency you worked with? There are dozens of agencies providing intel to the adminstration, and none of them knows exactly what the others are doing. How is it that you know none of these agencies were giving politically influenced or manipulated info to the White House? Oh, I forgot; all the president's intel went through you.

Furthermore, seven years is a long time ago. That was during the Clinton administration, right? You think things might just possibly have been different then? The current administration is setting new standards for message control, partisanship, and political ruthlessness. You really think you know exactly what was going on under the Bush administration in 2002 and 2003? You weren't even there. I think it is shameful that you would wave your flag, make illogical assumptions, and try to pretend you have "FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE" that the Bushmen's intel was not manipulated.

And take your insinuations that I have never served my country, and stick them up your zit-covered hiney. OK?

You are missing the real point anyway! The real issue is not so much whether intel was twisted by Bush's handlers before he saw it. The real issue is how they spun it and lied about it to the American public. What pisses me off is the political ABUSE of "intel" (hey, look, there's Karl Rove! Wave to us, Karl!) for the purpose of misleading us.

By the way, I do wear a tinfoil hat. I look very handsome in it, thankyouverymuch.