They Knew

The most recent issue of In These Times apparently has the definitive proof of the misinformation campaign of the Bush Administration in the run-up to the Iraq War.

The link is apparently currently down, but
according to Eric Alterman, the story points out the following:

1. "Well before they made their declarations that Iraq had nuclear weapons, the Bush administration's own intelligence agencies, the IAEA and others warned the White House that the claim could not be substantiated. Nonetheless, President Bush and Vice President Cheney proceeded to repeatedly claim Iraq had nuclear weapons.

2. Before they made their claims that Iraq 'possesses' chemical and biological weapons, the Pentagon's intelligence agency told the White House the claim could not be supported, and the State Department's intelligence experts told Colin Powell not to make the claim in his key speech to the U.N. They ignored the warnings.

3. A month after top members of Bush's own party, including Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), admitted there was no intelligence proving an Iraq-al Qaeda connection, President Bush began telling the country that 'you can't distinguish between Saddam and al Qaeda.' He and other officials proceeded to ignore key warnings from terrorism and intelligence experts that there was no connection, and continued to assert there was. Vice President Cheney, when called onto the carpet, even began referring to documents previously discredited by the Pentagon to claim his Iraq-al Qaeda assertions were accurate. Even today, after the 9/11 Commission has definitively shown there was 'no credible evidence' of an Iraq-al Qaeda collaboration, the administration continues to assert there is 'overwhelming evidence' proving their case. They have provided no evidence. "

I will withhold final judgment until I can read the final story for myself. But, I thought it had enough potential to pass along and allow you to make your own judgement.