"Substantiated by intelligence information"

Sound the trumpets, ring the church bells, toot your horns and otherwise exclaim... the MSM has begun nailing the coffin shut containing the corpse of the "Bush Lied, People died" meme... finally:

Search the Internet for "Bush Lied" products, and you will find sites that offer more than a thousand designs. The basic "Bush Lied, People Died" bumper sticker is only the beginning.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, set out to provide the official foundation for what has become not only a thriving business but, more important, an article of faith among millions of Americans. And in releasing a committee report Thursday, he claimed to have accomplished his mission, though he did not use the L-word.

"In making the case for war, the administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when it was unsubstantiated, contradicted or even nonexistent," he said.

There's no question that the administration, and particularly Vice President Cheney, spoke with too much certainty at times and failed to anticipate or prepare the American people for the enormous undertaking in Iraq.

But dive into Rockefeller's report, in search of where exactly President Bush lied about what his intelligence agencies were telling him about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, and you may be surprised by what you find.

On Iraq's nuclear weapons program? The president's statements "were generally substantiated by intelligence community estimates."

On biological weapons, production capability and those infamous mobile laboratories? The president's statements "were substantiated by intelligence information."

On chemical weapons, then? "Substantiated by intelligence information."

On weapons of mass destruction overall (a separate section of the intelligence committee report)? "Generally substantiated by intelligence information." Delivery vehicles such as ballistic missiles? "Generally substantiated by available intelligence." Unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to deliver WMDs? "Generally substantiated by intelligence information."

As you read through the report, you begin to think maybe you've mistakenly picked up the minority dissent. But, no, this is the Rockefeller indictment. So, you think, the smoking gun must appear in the section on Bush's claims about Saddam Hussein's alleged ties to terrorism.

But statements regarding Iraq's support for terrorist groups other than al-Qaeda "were substantiated by intelligence information." Statements that Iraq provided safe haven for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other terrorists with ties to al-Qaeda "were substantiated by the intelligence assessments," and statements regarding Iraq's contacts with al-Qaeda "were substantiated by intelligence information."

Perhaps now the moonbats will leave the belfry, the loons will depart from their ivory towers, the idiots will abandon their asylums and they'll all not let the door hit them in the ass on the way out.

Then again, Bush Derangement Syndrome is pervasive and there is, at this point, no known cure.  Nevertheless, let us celebrate the Washington Post and their awakening. 

And say a prayer for for Fred Hiatt, the WAPO Editorial Page Editor. 

He's in for a pummeling.

With kudos to The Anchoress who opines:

The article’s writer, Fred Hiatt, acknowledges that at this point, people will believe what they’ve been told for the past 5 years, and this report is unlikely to change anyone’s opinion on anything - we’re too far gone for that - the narratives have been erected in stone, but he points writes:

…the phony “Bush lied” story line distracts from the biggest prewar failure: the fact that so much of the intelligence upon which Bush and Rockefeller and everyone else relied turned out to be tragically, catastrophically wrong.

The phony “Bush lied story line…

Pinch me, I’m dreaming.  Say it with me: The phony “Bush lied story line… 

There, in black and white, in The Washington Post.  Imagine that.  The Emily Litella Press says “nevermind”.  I’m stunned.  And even, a little…dare I be…hopeful.

Martin Luther King said that “a lie won’t stand forever.”

Bush did not lie.  Others did - lots of others - but Bush did not lie.  All he ever said was the same thing Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jay Rockefeller, John Kerry, John Edwards, Madeline Albright and so many others said, over, and over, and over.  Either they were all lying, or none of them were, and our intelligence (and much of the world’s and the UN’s) was a catastrophic failure. 

Let’s take any remaining steps available, to see that the intel is more reliable in future.

Comments

[VIta]

Drudge is ignoring - not linking to the WaPo, which means if Rush doesn't talk about it, no one is going to hear about this.

[Mommynator]

I wonder if our resident gadfly is going to comment.

*walks off whistling, hands in pocket, eyes raised to the sky*

[Locutisprime]

The interesting sophist arguments that I have see arise of late, as a result of this supposed report, involves the acknowledgment by many liberals, that they supposedly knew that Clinton lied about WMD in Iraq and so did those in his cabinet and congress at the time.

Therefore, President Bush should have known that "they" were all lying and therefore, he lied to the American people, by virtue of the fact that he knew that he had been lied to by the Clinton administration and their intelligence on Iraq.

Or simply put, I call it the Maxwell Smart explanation of the plan. "We now that you knew, that we knew that we were lying. Therefore, your representing our lie as your truth even though you knew or should have known that it was our lie, means that you lied and you knew that you were lying, based on our lies.

If the logic of the liberal left gets any more convoluted in representation than that, then it scares me to even consider what they will come up with next, or in support of their new messiah.

[Mommynator]

If their reasoning becomes any more convoluted, heads will begin to explode.