Sunday, April 24, 2005
Quote and context
"I explained to Christian that it was a political judgment as to how to interpret this data, and the I.C. should do as we asked and sanitize my language as long as sources and methods are not compromised," Mr. Fleitz wrote to Mr. Bolton, referring to the intelligence community.
Bolton is Bush's nominie for the position of ambassador to the U.N. who is being grilled by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. At the time of this quote Bolton was the Undersecretary of State for Disarmament. Fleitz was his's assistant.
Why am I highlighting this quote? Because it shows the flaws of the Bush administration in a single sentence. It is not a political judgement how to interpret intelligence data, it is a technical judgement. If you make it political then you loose the value of the intelligence. It becomes an excuse for action instead of light it the dark. Excuses are cheap, you don't need to spend billions to come up with excuses. On the other hand good intelligence that is well analyzed is nearly priceless. It is like playing poker while knowing the opponent's hand.
Jax
If you are following the Bolton affair, this article will be of interest.
Bolton is Bush's nominie for the position of ambassador to the U.N. who is being grilled by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. At the time of this quote Bolton was the Undersecretary of State for Disarmament. Fleitz was his's assistant.
Why am I highlighting this quote? Because it shows the flaws of the Bush administration in a single sentence. It is not a political judgement how to interpret intelligence data, it is a technical judgement. If you make it political then you loose the value of the intelligence. It becomes an excuse for action instead of light it the dark. Excuses are cheap, you don't need to spend billions to come up with excuses. On the other hand good intelligence that is well analyzed is nearly priceless. It is like playing poker while knowing the opponent's hand.
Jax
If you are following the Bolton affair, this article will be of interest.
