Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Feith memo

Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard has a long article in the current issue on the links between Osama and Saddam as outlined in a leaked memo from Douglas Feith. The CIA is asking for another "leak investigation".

Obviously, I'm in no position to pass judgment on this memo as I haven't seen it. However, I'm sure it will confirm what should be obvious to all who are so keen to criticize the use of intelligence by the administration – it's always murky. It was unclear before September 11 when the government didn't "do enough to prevent the attacks" and it was unclear before the Iraq war when the administration "attacked Iraq without any proof that Iraq had WMD or links with Al Qaeda or presented an imminent threat or . . .".

Some intelligence says Iraq's a threat and some says it's not. Some intelligence says that Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government are linked and some says they're not. I've often heard about the "fog of war", well it seems pretty clear to me that the fog of covert war is even thicker and more difficult to penetrate.

It also seems pretty clear to me that inaction is as fraught with danger as action.