Message to the Administration: Play Offense

I've been meaning to mention Stephen Hayes' recent Weekly Standard article. It is chock full of insights regarding the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report (you know, the one that said 'Iraq is... expanding its chemical, biological, nuclear and missile programs'), Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, and a cast of thousands.

Hayes alludes to a set of documents in Qatar, listed in a database called 'HARMONY', which were produced by Hussein's Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS). The titles are fascinating:

Money Transfers from Iraq to Afghanistan Secret Meeting with Taliban Group Member and Iraqi Government (Nov. 2000) Iraqi Effort to Cooperate with Saudi Opposition Groups and Individuals Order from Saddam to present $25,000 to Palestinian Suicide Bombers' Families IIS Reports from Embassy in Paris: Plan to Influence French Stance in UN Security Council IIS Report on How French Campaigns are Financed Improvised Explosive Devices Plan Ricin research and improvement There are thousands of similar documents. Many have already been authenticated and most are unclassified. That's worth repeating: Most are unclassified. Of course, nothing is more important than winning on the ground in Iraq. Demonstrating that we are killing terrorists and making steady progress on the political front will do much to blunt the criticism of the war. But if the White House refuses to challenge its critics, and refuses to explain in detail why Iraq is the central front in the war on terror, and refuses to discuss the flawed intelligence on Iraqi WMD, and refuses to use its tremendous power to remind Americans that Saddam Hussein was, in fact, a threat, then it risks losing the support of those Americans who continue to believe that the Iraq war, despite all of its many costs in blood and money, was worth it.

Indeed. Why doesn't the Bush administrationn refer critics to the Butler Report, produced for the British Government in July of 2004. It stated -- with utmost clarity -- that Hussein's agents were indeed in Niger, prior to the war, seeking uranium:

The report indicated that there was enough intelligence to make a “well-founded” judgment that Saddam Hussein was seeking, perhaps as late as 2002, to obtain uranium illegally from Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo (6.4 para. 499). In particular, referring to a 1999 visit of Iraqi officials to Niger, the report states (6.4 para. 503): “The British government had intelligence from several different sources indicating that this visit was for the purpose of acquiring uranium. Since uranium constitutes almost three-quarters of Niger's exports, the intelligence was credible.”

And the administration could easily point to the litany of fabrications emanating from the dubious Joe Wilson:

...to sum up: the Senate Intelligence Committee's report shows that: 1) Wilson lied in the New York Times about what he told the CIA after he returned from Niger. In fact, far from debunking the concern that Iraq may have tried to buy uranium from Niger, Wilson reported that Niger's former Prime Minister told him that Iraq had made just such an overture in 1999. 2) Wilson lied when he leaked a report to the Washington Post about documents he had not even seen. 3) Wilson lied when he said that his wife Valerie "had nothing to do with" his being chosen to go to Niger.

I'm just a tiny voice in the wilderness. But my message is the same as that of the blogosphere's big guns: the administration needs to play offense. Especially when the facts are ignored, omitted or buried by the Mediacrats, day after day.