Here We Go Again...

A former CIA official has accused Bush of cherry-picking intelligence in the lead-up to the Iraq War. Haven't we heard this tune before?

I may be wrong, but I expect there to be a blog-plosion over this. Leftist websites will say "Bush Lied!" while rightist websites will say "The CIA Guy Lied! And He's a Terrorist Sympathizer!" While those of us in the middle will say "you're all lying!"

So, let me go on record by saying I have not seen any evidence to convince me that Bush "cherry-picked" intelligence. I think it is clear that he didn't pay enough attention to opposing views, but that's a far cry from deliberately manipulating evidence. At the very worst, I think one can argue that Bush was incompetent. I don't go that far in my own assessment, but I fully understand how one can. But believing that Bush deviously manipulated evidence is unjustifiable by the facts. Why would he? Because he had some secret, nefarious agenda he wanted to keep hidden?

I don't buy it. And I wish we could keep our critiques of this war focused on what missteps we have made, why we made them and what solutions can we implement now.