Legacy of Ashes: History of CIA

[Bernice Moore]

While the CIA's mistake on Iraq was arguably the most consequential in its history, it was certainly not the first. As Tim Weiner's compelling book,

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/201...ory+of+the+CIA+

[Bernice Moore]

While the CIA's mistake on Iraq was arguably the most consequential in its history, it was certainly not the first. As Tim Weiner's compelling book,

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/201...ory+of+the+CIA+

contact the author Author Tim Weiner or contact the site perhaps they can possibly pass your question on to him...b

[John Simkin]

What "mistake on Iraq" are you referring to? I'm not aware of the CIA making any major mistakes regarding Iraq. I'm not being facetious.

That they believed they had weapons of mass destruction. Another major mistake was their assessment of what they thought would happen if the US and UK invaded Iraq. According to the testimony of Tony Blair at the Chilcott Inquiry, the CIA and MI5 did not predict the resistance that they faced after the invasion. However, I suspect he was not telling the truth because when Clinton asked the CIA what would happen if he ordered the invasion of Iraq, they told him that other countries in the region, including Iran, would get involved.

[Ron Ecker]

The CIA's mistake on Iran will be its most consequential in history. (Overthrowing a democratically elected government in the 1950s.) Look what it's gotten us, and what it may get us. (World War III?) The U.S. fully intends to bomb Iran sooner or later on behalf of its Israeli allies, under the stupid notion (which will of course be easily sold to the U.S. sheeple) that bombing can stop Iran's nuclear program. (I'm sure the CIA could tell the U.S. president and military that bombing alone won't do it - the CIA, after all, is supposed to be in the intelligence business - but hey, you've gotta fit the intelligence to the policy, or however that secret Downing Street memo put it regarding Iraq.)

Thank you, Harry Truman, for the CIA. That, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki add up to quite a legacy.

[Cliff Varnell]

Bush/Cheney succeeded where Richard Nixon failed: they politicized the

Central Intelligence Agency. Analysis was tailored to fit policy priorities

("next smoking gun a mushroom cloud"), and Cheney showed up at Langley

on occasion to whip the process.

Bush/Cheney further abused the Agency in the Plame Affair.

Only a Bush could get away with it, outright treason.

[John Simkin]

I feel like an outsider here. I honestly don't know what you are all talking about.

The CIA didn't make any mistakes in Iraq (well, at least not any major ones that I'm aware of).

The Bush administration is the entity that made the mistakes.

The Intelligence Community did NOT claim that Iraq had WMD or that Saddam posed a threat.

The Bush administration's appointees at the Pentagon are the ones that cooked the books, so to speak....

Please get your facts straight. In addition, Tim Weiner's book is a load of crap, missing many of the major problems that should have been highlighted. Weiner's an insider, so I expected no more and no less than a by-the-numbers rundown of what we already knew.

Have you read the article? This is the opening two paragraphs:

"Slam dunk.” George Tenet, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, later admitted that those were “the two dumbest words I ever said” when he had assured President George W. Bush in December 2002 that the CIA held solid proof of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. This monumental error led directly to the American decision to invade Iraq.

While the CIA's mistake on Iraq was arguably the most consequential in its history, it was certainly not the first. As Tim Weiner's compelling book, “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA,” makes clear, the U.S. has suffered serious intelligence failures from the CIA's earliest days.

It is clear that Bush and Blair selected the CIA and MI6 intelligence that encouraged the belief that Iraq had WMD. However, it is also clear that the CIA and MI6 went along with providing the information that the politicians were looking for.

[Greg Burnham]

I call this another case of IMplausible Deniability, wherein the Agency and the Administration attempt to blame each other when the proverbial **** hits the fan. Except nobody outside the inner loop knows which side to believe and ends up trusting neither.

I feel like an outsider here. I honestly don't know what you are all talking about.

The CIA didn't make any mistakes in Iraq (well, at least not any major ones that I'm aware of).

The Bush administration is the entity that made the mistakes.

The Intelligence Community did NOT claim that Iraq had WMD or that Saddam posed a threat.

The Bush administration's appointees at the Pentagon are the ones that cooked the books, so to speak....

Please get your facts straight. In addition, Tim Weiner's book is a load of crap, missing many of the major problems that should have been highlighted. Weiner's an insider, so I expected no more and no less than a by-the-numbers rundown of what we already knew.

Have you read the article? This is the opening two paragraphs:

"Slam dunk.” George Tenet, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency, later admitted that those were “the two dumbest words I ever said” when he had assured President George W. Bush in December 2002 that the CIA held solid proof of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. This monumental error led directly to the American decision to invade Iraq.

While the CIA's mistake on Iraq was arguably the most consequential in its history, it was certainly not the first. As Tim Weiner's compelling book, “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA,” makes clear, the U.S. has suffered serious intelligence failures from the CIA's earliest days.

It is clear that Bush and Blair selected the CIA and MI6 intelligence that encouraged the belief that Iraq had WMD. However, it is also clear that the CIA and MI6 went along with providing the information that the politicians were looking for.

[Cliff Varnell]

P.S. I don't blame Bush as much as the folks behind him.

More Bushes.