July 15, 2003

Krugman's back

Posted by Henry

And on top form.

More than half of the U.S. Army’s combat strength is now bogged down in Iraq, which didn’t have significant weapons of mass destruction and wasn’t supporting Al Qaeda. We have lost all credibility with allies who might have provided meaningful support; Tony Blair is still with us, but has lost the trust of his public. All this puts us in a very weak position for dealing with real threats. Did I mention that North Korea has been extracting fissionable material from its fuel rods? How did we get into this mess? The case of the bogus uranium purchases wasn’t an isolated instance. It was part of a broad pattern of politicized, corrupted intelligence.

Check out Nicholas Kristof’s piece for extra schadenfreude, if schadenfreude is your thing; mine is weary disgust.

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group of retired spooks, issued an open letter to President Bush yesterday reflecting the view of many in the intel community that the central culprit is Vice President Dick Cheney. The open letter called for Mr. Cheney’s resignation.

Posted on July 15, 2003 02:10 AM UTC
Comments

NB: It’s Nicholas Kristof, not William.

Posted by Mark · July 15, 2003 03:22 AM

Yep - problem already spotted by one of my co-bloggers and changed. Thx

Posted by Henry · July 15, 2003 04:04 AM

Don’t get too weary with your disgust. If we don’t have the energy to get Bush out of office, you’ll be disgusted for another four years and that will be really wearying.

I get the impression that Respectable Sources — i.e. outside the Atrios comments section — are diligently refusing to call for Bush’s resignation, and instead are going after his posse (if he can say “darn good” I can call them a posse): Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz. Meanwhile the lefties are focused hard on Bush himself.

Posted by PG · July 15, 2003 06:48 AM

According to (I believe) Kristof’s piece, a group of retired spies has issued a letter demanding Cheney’s resignation.

Posted by Jeremy Osner · July 15, 2003 02:24 PM

Patience Please: An American Empire takes time.

Posted by Van der Leun · July 15, 2003 06:27 PM

Henry, are you a political economist? I’ve only ever heard that word used like that by Pol/Econ wonks. (Like one of my professors from last year, for example.)

Posted by Lorenzo · July 15, 2003 08:46 PM
Followups

→ Something fishy.
Excerpt: Nicholas Kristof's column in the New York Times, as part of a charge that the Bush administration has corrupted intelligence
Read more at AtlanticBlog

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.