Ex-spy raps Bush, intelligence

Before 9-11, there were 15 books published that detailed the serious deficiencies in U.S. intelligence, but the Bush administration in particular didn't pay attention, Steele said. "Nobody wanted to do intelligence reform."Citing this map, Steele said Americans don't have a global perspective, and reeled off a battery of statistics to prove his point: 26 wars between nations killing more than 1,000 people a year; about 75 wars between nations killing fewer than 1,000 a year, such as the India-Pakistan conflict; 175 countries with internal violent political conflicts; 67 countries with millions of refugees; 59 countries with plagues "that can come to America on one jet"; 27 countries with famines; and 18 genocides in progress.
Steele promotes a public intelligence network over the cult of secrecy that he said has enabled leaders to be deceived by misleading or false intelligence, which in turn allowed the Bush administration to make a case for the Iraq war.
The war on terrorism has gone awry, Steele said.

"I am a moderate Republican who believes the party has been hijacked," he said. "We have been lied to, we have been misled. Iraq was a wrong turn."

Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, and for a tenth of the approximately $400 billion the United States has spent on the war in Iraq, it could have caught Osama bin Laden, he said. "We're pretending to be at war with terrorism, but what this is really about is electing George Bush on an Iraq plank."

The United States is not investing in state, local and clandestine intelligence, Steele said. "We are being bamboozled by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and all of the Arab countries and African countries. Many African Muslim countries are killing their own people, and we're accepting that because they're pretending to help us."

Steele predicts that the United States will endure another series of terrorist attacks. "There will be another 5,000 body bags. There is nothing in the President's budget that makes America any safer; all of the money is being spent on first responders who do things after we've been killed."

ex-cia agent tellin it like it is..


www.casperstartribune.net...

And then there are other opinions like this:

rds.yahoo.com...=2766679/K=clinton+cia/v=2/SID=e/l=WS1/R=5/H=0/*-www.collegian.psu.edu... .asp
rds.yahoo.com...=2766679/K=clinton+cia/v=2/SID=e/l=WS1/R=15/H=0/*-www.papillonsartpalace.com...
rds.yahoo.com...=2766679/K=clinton+cia/v=2/SID=e/l=WS1/R=43/H=0/*-www.hench.net...
rds.yahoo.com...=2766679/K=clinton+cia/v=2/SID=e/l=WS1/R=92/H=0/*-www.mtholyoke.edu...

Originally posted by Phoenix
And then there are other opinions like this:

rds.yahoo.com...=2766679/K=clinton+cia/v=2/SID=e/l=WS1/R=5/H=0/*-www.collegian.psu.edu... .asp
rds.yahoo.com...=2766679/K=clinton+cia/v=2/SID=e/l=WS1/R=15/H=0/*-www.papillonsartpalace.com...
rds.yahoo.com...=2766679/K=clinton+cia/v=2/SID=e/l=WS1/R=43/H=0/*-www.hench.net...
rds.yahoo.com...=2766679/K=clinton+cia/v=2/SID=e/l=WS1/R=92/H=0/*-www.mtholyoke.edu...

Whats your point?? That the american government has always been like this???Is that what you are trying to say??? because I agree with you!!Clinton was a disgrace but not even close to the same level as what bush co. has done.

Yes McGotti I am with you when you say "government is rotten" but I digress to what degree of comparison is made between Bush and Clinton because some peoples memory seems to go south on this subject.

Clinton bombed the h*ll out of Kosovo and I did'nt hear one peep of complaint from the left.

One has to admit Clinton indeed bungled the deal on Osama, setting up 9/11 inadvertantly.

Clinton gutted and castrated the CIA, NSA and FBI setting up the next administration for intelligence failure.

Its the hypocrisy of the left that drives me crazy when they bash Bush. I would just once like to hear "Like Clinton, Bush has done X"

"X" could be lie, cheat, steal or whatever - they all do it.

In the end I believe Clintons policies and failures went a long way towards setting up the current situation, I however do not blame Clinton for Bush's reaction to the situation.