MORE SPINNING….Oh, please, not again:
In a new dispute over interpreting intelligence data, the CIA and other agencies objected vigorously to a Bush administration assessment of the threat of Syria’s weapons of mass destruction that was to be presented Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
….U.S. officials told Knight Ridder that [Undersecretary of State John] Bolton was prepared to tell members of a House of Representatives International Relations subcommittee that Syria’s development of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons had progressed to such a point that they posed a threat to stability in the region.
….Bolton’s planned remarks caused a “revolt” among intelligence experts who thought they inflated the progress Syria has made in its weapons programs, said a U.S. official who isn’t from the CIA, but was involved in the dispute.
….The first U.S. official said that after months of complaining about pressure to skew their analyses, rank-and-file intelligence officials “have become emboldened” by the recent public debate over Iraq.
“People are fed up,” he said.
Well, I’m fed up, that’s for sure. What the hell is going on in the Bush administration?
