BUSH'S WAR WITH THE CIA

New York Observer and Salon writer Joe Conason on the intelligence war:

In short, despite all the ominous blather about "mushroom clouds" emanating from the highest ranks of the U.S. government, this administration's own investigators have established that the Iraqi nuclear program was dismantled after the first Gulf War -- just as the United Nations inspectors and the Iraqis themselves insisted last December.

As significant as the facts adduced in the Sunday Post article was its sourcing: The intelligence agents in the Iraq Study Group don't appear to be following the lead of their boss, David Kay, who has vainly sought to bolster the White House position. The investigators who spoke with Mr. Gellman and leaked documents to him seem to be doing their best to undermine the administration.

If so, they are only responding in kind to attacks on their agency from the White House, which would like to hang the intelligence fiasco on the C.I.A. Shifting blame to the intelligence services also seems to be the objective of Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. On Oct. 24, Mr. Roberts said his committee's investigation had found that "the executive was ill-served by the intelligence community."

It seems like "don't mess with the CIA" would be a good rule of thumb for any president, but not for Bush. Apparently, his rules have to do with keeping his thumb in reserve for a place where the sun doesn't shine. That is, his ass.

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