It's the Intelligence, Stupid

Andrew Sullivan absolutely nails the point I was making last week. Republican Senator Pat Roberts was on "Meet The Press" yesterday. He was asked if the war resolution would have passed the Senate if Senators knew then what they know now regarding WMD.

"I think the whole premise would have changed, I think the whole debate would have changed, and I think that the response would have changed in terms of any kind of military plans. Very difficult to look in the rear-view mirror, 20/20 hindsight and say what you would have done under those circumstances. ... I think if we went back to the no-fly zones and the resolutions by the U.N. and an awful lot of talk, I doubt if the votes would have been there."

Sullivan concludes:

So if we had had accurate intelligence, the war would not have taken place. I reiterate: I'm still glad we fought it. But this remains one of the biggest government screw-ups in recent history. It has made future pre-emption based on intelligence close to impossible. And President Bush is ultimately responsible for this. Tenet has taken the fall, but it will take years and years before the U.S. regains the reputation for credibility that this president has destroyed. Even if you believe that Bush is still the best man to fight this war, you also have to concede that his record includes at least one massive error, and one that will cripple our ability to fight the war in the future.
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If Bush had made the proper case for war, and not the "quick and easy" case, we wouldn't be facing these potentially crippling issues going forward.