The Ming Report

THE BUCK HAS STOPPED

July 11, 2003 - I have been trying to sort this out. On the one hand the Secretary of State says that the information that Saddam Hussein was running around Africa chasing Yellow-Cake was not reliable enough to present as evidence to the United Nations one week after the State of the Union. We know that when it was finally turned over to IAEA it was seen to be a clumsy forgery. Colin Powell, not one to mince words is said to have described it as “bull----” in an angry outburst as he prepared his presentation to the United Nations Security Council even though he did include the already discredited “aluminum tube” purchases as part of the support for the Administration’s war policy.

On the other hand we have both the President and Ms. Rice announcing today that the reference to the Iraq’s attempt to buy uranium was vetted by “the intelligence agencies”. Rice said that had the CIA objected to the reference it would have come out of the speech. Yesterday the CIA denied being shown the final draft of the speech after having reviewed and raised objections to some passages in preliminary drafts. A cynic might note that the CIA Director is a holdover from the Clinton Administration and blaming his agency for the misstatement is in keeping with the Rovian strategy of blaming all ills on the preceding administration.

We also know that Ambassador Wilson was sent to investigate the Nigerean Yellow-Cake story at the request of the Vice-President and had reported in March of 2002 that the transaction described in the forged documents was, in his words, impossible. Add that to the nature of the documents themselves. Written on letterhead not used by Niger’s Atomic Energy Agency until long after the date of the purported document and purported to be signed by someone who had not been connected with the agency for 15 years, the forgeries simply could not have gone undetected by even a cursory examination by anyone knowledgeable about Nigerean affairs.

Where does this leave the Administration? It seems that evidence not valid enough to be used before the Security Council was deemed good enough to use to sell war to the American people. The reason is transparent. A presentation to the international community will be scrutinized and examined by a myriad of government agencies and international organizations around the globe. If it is found wanting, it will be promptly revealed to the world. And that is exactly what happened to the yellow-cake documents when they were revealed to the IAEA two weeks after the President’s speech. A domestic political propaganda set-piece does not undergo the same scrutiny.

Whether the President knowing lied to us or whether it was incompetence that permitted the now acknowledged misstatement to be used is really immaterial. If the former is the explanation it goes to the President’s personal integrity. If it is the latter it suggests he needs to return to Harvard to hone up his management skills. His State Department knew the facts. Why did not the President have that same information? Mr. President, the Buck has stopped on your desk – there is nowhere to pass it! Take responsibility and move on.