Give Up 'Delusional Hope' of Iraq WMD, Kay Says

Remember, this is coming from the man the White House hired explicitly to find WMD in Iraq.

'Delusional' is a pretty strong word, if I do say so myself

U.S. officials should give up the "delusional hope" that Iraq (news - web sites) has weapons of mass destruction so they can move forward with reform, David Kay, who once led the U.S. hunt for banned weapons, said on Wednesday.

A new national director post also must be independent, not located in the executive office of the president, Kay said.

"If you're on such friendly terms with the president that you can answer a concern the president may have about the quality about your intelligence with a trite sports cliche 'It's a slam dunk' and the president or the national security adviser don't come down your throat, you're way too close to power," he said.

It was a reference to former CIA Director George Tenet's reported reply to President Bush (news - web sites) when asked before the war how sure he was that Iraq had banned weapons.

"It needs to be someone who does not mind being up to their kneecaps in blood. They're not concerned with winning the popularity contest, they're not really concerned about leaks to the press about them," Kay said.


Kay said "one of the greatest misnomers" was referring to the spy agencies as an intelligence community. "It has none of the characteristics of a community. It's a group of feuding empires that don't like direction," he said.

The old saying, Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" certainly seems apropos...