(no subject)

[asheris]

Funny, I don't recall THIS being reported in papers over the past few days, and I'd consider it a rather big news item:

The top National Security Council official [Rand Beers] in the war on terror resigned this week for what a NSC spokesman said were personal reasons, but intelligence sources say the move reflects concern that the looming war with Iraq is hurting the fight against terrorism.

...

"This is a very intriguing decision (by Beers)," said author and intelligence expert James Bamford. "There is a predominant belief in the intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq will cause more terrorism than it will prevent. There is also a tremendous amount of embarrassment by intelligence professionals that there have been so many lies out of the administration -- by the president, (Vice President Dick) Cheney and (Secretary of State Colin) Powell -- over Iraq."

Bamford cited a recent address by President Bush that cited documents, which allegedly proved Iraq was continuing to pursue a nuclear program, that were later shown to be forgeries.

"It is absurd that the president of the United States mentioned in a speech before the world information from phony documents and no one got fired," Bamford said. "That alone has offended intelligence professionals throughout the services."

...

But others point out that the CIA warned Congress last year that an invasion might lead to a rise in terrorism. This, they say, is evidence there's more than just ambivalence about the war among the spy community.

"If it was your job to prevent terror attacks, would you be happy about an action that many see as unnecessary, that is almost guaranteed to cause more terror in the short-term?" said one official. "I know I'm not (happy)."

Beers joined the NSC in August after heading the State Department's International Narcotics and Law Enforcement branch, where he ran the Plan Colombia program to fight narco-traffickers in that country. Beers served both Bush administrations as well as serving in similar capacities with both the Clinton and Reagan administrations.

Also check out War — What's this one good for? by Christopher Allbritton, former AP and New York Daily News reporter. (thanks for the link, jetgrrl!) Interesting comparison of what's happening now to WWI, among other things.


Now, remember, according to our "Fearless Leader", the US government is going into Iraq as the "good guys", so that means their using chemical weapons (illegal under multiple international agreements), land mines (ditto), and dropping depleted uranium (ditto again- possibly a base cause of "Gulf War Syndrome" and the radiation poisoning of many Iraqi children) are good things. Right?