The Dumbing Down of Intelligence
By Anthony Wade
I am forever amazed how stupid president Bush thinks the American people are. In the light of bad news after bad news, Bush continues to put a sunny face on a country and war policy spiraling out of control. Of course you would expect him to pull out all the stops as the election draws nigh, but this week we saw how low, or stupid, he is willing to go.
Bush relies heavily on his folksy nature. He overplays his hand every now and again but for the most part, he is quite good at sounding like the guy next door. Unfortunately for us, most of the people who actually are the guy next door, we would never put in the most powerful office in the world. When faced with the horrific truth about his war, Bush will undoubtedly circle the wagons and say, "gosh, freedom is on the march!" Of course these sound bites never actually speak to the problem he is attempting to address. His hope is that when you hear, "freedom is on the march!" enough, it is what you will remember when you go to cast your vote this November. This strategy works very well for Bush but this week he crossed the line of credibility again when he tried to spin away from the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which was leaked to the press.
For those of you who may not know, a National Intelligence Estimate is defined by the Department of Defense as, "A strategic estimate of the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and probable courses of action of foreign nations which is produced at the national level as a composite of the views of the intelligence community". In layman's terms it is an estimate of all of the problems in a given foreign country, taking into account the views of the entire intelligence community. In July, a NIE was prepared for the president about the situation in Iraq . This is not an independent opinion, it was prepared for the president, so he could better understand the situation he has to make difficult decisions about. What George Bush was not prepared for was that you or I would find out the results.
The NIE concluded one of three outcomes was probable in Iraq by the end of 2005. The worst estimate would be an Iraq where developments could lead to civil war. The best estimate is an Iraq where political, economic and security stability would remain tenuous. Yikes, that doesn't sound too good does it? Under the best scenario, the entire country, politically, economically and security-related would remain tenuous, which is defined as having very little substance. That is the best! The worst would be what some critics are already saying we are in the middle of, a civil war.
Faced with such sobering news in July, the president chose"to not even mention it to the American people. In fact, during the entire month of August the president was trumpeting the "successes" in Iraq . The republican convention was held in August, a month after the president read this estimate and he chose to not tell us then. It is quite obvious that he never intended to tell us; instead it had to be leaked for you to know the truth. Now that it was out in the open, we would see how much Bush respects our intelligence.
When asked about it, Bush's response was:
"The CIA laid out several scenarios. It said that life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better. And they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like"
What??? The Central Intelligence Agency was guessing? Is that the best you can do? How stupid does George W. Bush think the American people are? This is the most egregious example of dumbing down intelligence I have ever heard of and it takes more arrogance than I thought Bush even had to suggest it. The intelligence community apparently only serves one purpose for Bush, someone to blame when his policies go south. Faced with the obvious truth that his luminous predictions have been false the best Bush could come up with was a folksy attempt to insult the American people. Using soft words like lousy to describe the fact that attacks on US forces are up 100% since last winter and that during August, our troops experienced attacks 90 times per day is beyond insolent. I wonder how lousy the troops think it is. Also, I do not see where the NIE says that life could be ok. Is the entire country being tenuous now a positive outcome for this president?
Thankfully, not everyone in Bush's party is so disingenuous. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, called Iraq "exasperating for anybody looking at this from any vantage point." Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said of the overall lack of spending on reconstruction: "It's beyond pitiful, it's beyond embarrassing. It is now in the zone of dangerous." Hagel went on to say about the progress in Iraq , "does not add up in my opinion to a pretty picture, to a picture that shows that we're winning. But it does add up to this: an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble."
It is refreshing to see such candor from some GOP senators. It is a shame that Bush prefers to play politics with people's lives. Bush received this bleak news, chose not to tell the American people and when called on it, tried to dumb-down his own intelligence community. He did it a most arrogant way, using his folksy language to throw you off from the truth. It was a duplicitous, conniving, and manipulative attempt. Quite frankly, it was lousy.
Anthony Wade is co-administrator of a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional counselor, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.
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