In a perfectly expected move, the White House today went on the attack and placed the blame for some of the Iraqi intelligence problems firmly on the shoulders of the CIA and Director Tenet. Never a group to take responsibility for their own gaffes, the White House team told the press that the CIA cleared the speech and raised no concerns about any of the content.

This comes a day after a number of senior US officials started speaking up that there was great concern in the intelligence committee over the White House's use of some of this information.

In fact, the State Dept. would not allow Secretary Powell to use the same intelligence just days later when he sat before the UN Security Council. NSA Rice admitted that the State Dept had informed the White House of its doubts about the intelligence, and these doubts were "footnoted" on the President's daily intellgence briefing prior to the State of the Union address.

US intelligence officials were aware that the whole "purchasing uranium from Niger" angle was false clear back in early 2002. US agencies sent agents directly to Niger, and discovered that no such transactions took place.

Somehow, a year later, the President and his team chose to quote a British dossier containing the same information our own intelligence agencies had already proven false.

Personal responsibility goes a long way toward fixing problems. Placing the blame on others to avoid taking the hit yourself is a very destructive strategy to employ. I think the administration's critics would be quelled somewhat if just once they were honest about something of this magnitude. Too bad we don't all have personal scapegoats to blame all of our bad decisions and petty issues on.

Bush and Rice Pin It on the CIA