Dilbert_X wrote:
FEOS wrote:
The intel wasn't bogus. It was exactly what was supposed to be seen. The conclusions that were drawn were exactly what were supposed to be drawn. Saddam just assumed that nothing would be done...because that's exactly what had been done for a decade.
Reading Scott Ritter at present.
Its pretty obvious:
The intel the CIA thought they had was wholly bogus, endless inspections proved that, as did the lack of WMD after the invasion.
Saddam wasn't mounting a deception campaign, he wanted sanctions lifted and was cooperating with UNSCOM.
The Iraqis were fed up with endless inspections when they'd destroyed all their WMD in 1991. They were also fed up with sensitive information from UNSCOM inspections unrelated to WMD being shared with the CIA and Israel.
The US objective was regime change, as stated by Bush and Blair after the invasion. The WMD business and sanctions were put in place to put pressure on Saddam, not because Iraq was believed to have WMD.
As I've said before...I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.
The whole point of it is that the intel would prove to be bogus
after the fact. That's how deception works.
Make things that are there appear to not be there.
Make things that aren't there appear to be there.
Make big things appear to be small. Make small things appear to be big.
The observer sees one thing (intel).
The reality is the opposite (truth).
One doesn't know the difference until one learns about the deception...
after the fact when your intel appears bogus.
Saddam was cooperating enough to keep the UN off his back, but not enough to convince anyone that he was clean...hence the 18 resolutions, continued inspection regimes and sanctions. If the UN thought he was clean, none of that would've happened. Unless you're claiming everyone other than the US was so fucking weakdick that they just rolled over and let Uncle Sam do whatever he wanted in spite of clear and unambiguous evidence to the contrary?
Didn't think so.