Thursday, February 20, 2003

Last week it appeared that the government was withholding information that could help weapons inspectors find weapons.

Well, it looks as if they're not withholding information anymore. It looks as if they're passing on plenty of information now -- utterly erroneous information:

Inspectors Call U.S. Tips 'Garbage'

While diplomatic maneuvering continues over Turkish bases and a new United Nations resolution, inside Iraq, U.N. arms inspectors are privately complaining about the quality of U.S. intelligence and accusing the United States of sending them on wild-goose chases.

...the U.S. claim that Iraq is developing missiles that could hit its neighbors – or U.S. troops in the region, or even Israel – is just one of the claims coming from Washington that inspectors here are finding increasingly unbelievable. The inspectors have become so frustrated trying to chase down unspecific or ambiguous U.S. leads that they've begun to express that anger privately in no uncertain terms....

So frustrated have the inspectors become that one source has referred to the U.S. intelligence they've been getting as "garbage after garbage after garbage."...The inspectors find themselves caught between the Iraqis, who are masters at the weapons-hiding shell game, and the United States, whose intelligence they've found to be circumstantial, outdated or just plain wrong....


Gee, do you think nonsense like this might possibly be part of the reason why people from other countries hesitate before deferring to the vastly superior judgment of their betters in the U.S.?

And right-wingers have the nerve to accuse peace protestors of being impediments to the disarmament process.

("Garbage" link via Atrios.)

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