Matthew Rothschild: Bush, Cheney, Get Their Whitewash

Another investigation, another whitewash.

The presidential commission on how the U.S. was so wrong about Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction gives Bush and Cheney exactly what they wanted: cover.

The Silberman-Robb report lays the blame primarily on the CIA for "poor tradecraft and poor management" and for presenting Bush with "alarmist" information in his daily briefings.

And it essentially exonerates Bush and Cheney from the charge that they cooked the intelligence. "In no instance did political pressure cause [analysts] to skew or alter any of their analytical judgments," it said.

Never mind that Cheney virtually set up camp at the CIA while they were drawing up those judgments.

How his unprecedented lurkings didn't represent political pressure is just beyond me.
(The Progressive)