THE VALUE OF INTELLIGENCE….Was Colin Powell’s testimony before the UN last Wednesday believable? Or was he just waving around bogus ? but unverifiable ? data in an attempt to stampede the UN into action? William Arkin writes in the LA Times today that he thinks Powell was being truthful:
Among the pieces of evidence Powell used to buttress his case that Iraq was flouting U.N. resolution was a photograph he said showed a “poison and explosives factory” at Khurmal in northeastern Iraq. I’ve had too much experience with U.S. intelligence to believe that Powell’s photo was fabricated or doctored. Neither was the secretary deliberately misrepresenting evidence. His own integrity is a sufficient safeguard against that.
But there’s a lot more to the story than just this, and the lessons are valuable for both sides in the war debate. Click the link to read the whole thing.
