MORE ON IRAQ'S NONEXISTENT WMD'S:
Enron-Like Unreality

And that was the problem with the CIA and DIA: They were a bunch of vulgar empiricists. What the Bush administration wanted, it turns out, was faith-based intelligence. Thus the operation in the Office of Special Plans, headed by neocon Abram Shulsky, was born. Shulsky's shop didn't have agents in the field; indeed, it had just a handful of analysts. But what set them apart from the intelligence agencies was that they relied heavily on information from the Iraqi National Congress (INC) -- an organization of Iraqi exiles whose raison d'etre was to promote the overthrow of Hussein. As both Hersh and Dreyfuss document, a lot of the INC's information on weapons programs and other matters was considered patently absurd by veteran intelligence analysts. But that was the information that served as the basis of the administration's case for war.

Additionally, the New York Times now reports that the administration was told many months before Powell's Security Council speech that the documents purportedly demonstrating Iraq's purchase of uranium from Niger were forgeries.

Apparently, Bush administration intelligence is to intelligence as Fox news is to news. Facts are fine so long as they bolster the president's case. When they don't, they will be suppressed or forgotten, and other, more congenial facts will be found.

As at Enron, there are leading figures in this administration who think that when the real facts don't look so good, it's fine to substitute your own.

I made this Enron comparison, myself, about six weeks ago in my comment under the heading The battle between Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon. It's nice to have an idea validated by a more mainstream writer.

I think it's pretty clear now that even though George W. Bush may claim the title "President," he seems to have as much understanding about what's happening in the White House and the world as Kenny-boy Lay claims to have had about Enron operations and its balance sheets. Rumsfeld and others whisper, Wormtongue-like, into Bush's ear, telling him what is happening and what he needs to do. Bush, tired, wanting to take his afternoon nap, agrees with his advisors, and issues their orders. Maybe Bush really is innocent of war crimes. Maybe he's only guilty of being stupid and weak-willed.

Unless, of course, Bush is more like the alternatively dottering for the cameras, then hard boiled behind the scenes fictional Ronald Reagan, as played by Phil Hartman in the old Saturday Night Live sketch. Are the mispronunciations a brilliant ruse? Is his complete ignorance of numerous important issues feigned? Is Bush the most brilliant statesman and strategist the world has ever seen?

Nah.

Click here to see why.

Thanks to J. Orlin Grabbe for the link.

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