Politics of spy agency failures

Publicly, top CIA officials agree with most of the Senate Intelligence Committee report findings - with the notable exception of charges of broken corporate culture, and the report's implication that the agency is too timid to send spies into dangerous or difficult situations. At a rare press conference on Friday, John McLaughlin, deputy director of the CIA, pointed out the stars on the wall of the agency's lobby that represent fallen agents.

The incriminating report, unanimously agreed to by the nine Republicans and eight Democrats on the committee, is not a surprise. But the panel's censure comes in the midst of a tumultuous time at the CIA. Just Sunday, George Tenet, who served as director for the past seven years, left. And his deputy director for operations, Jim Pavitt, also resigned.

Within the next 10 days or so, the national 9/11 commission expects to release its sweeping recommendations to fix flaws that prevented the intelligence community from thwarting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US. The House intelligence panel is in the midst of its own study. And on Wednesday, "Imperial Hubris," the latest in a series of books critical of government performance prior to 9/11, hits bookstores.

Amid these developments, Democrats have begun to indicate that they will make the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq a big theme in the campaign. This may not be as obvious a decision as it seems. It was Howard Dean, not Mr. Kerry nor Mr. Edwards, who was the full-throated Iraq critic in the Democratic primary campaign. Both Kerry and Edwards voted in favor of the Senate resolution approving Iraq combat, a move which at the time may have seemed the politically prudent course.

In a series of joint interviews over the weekend, Kerry and Edwards charged that the false assumptions behind the Iraq invasion unnecessarily cost the US precious military lives, as well as billions of dollars, and much international prestige.

"What George Bush has done in Iraq ... cost America dearly," said Mr. Edwards in a typical interview.

In response, a GOP campaign official said Kerry's position on the war has changed repeatedly. In addition, the spokesman noted pointedly that as of Sunday Kerry had not had the time to receive the classified national security briefing offered presumed presidential candidates.

But in a sign of how polarized Iraq has become as a political issue, some Democrats now say flatly that the Senate was misled in the runup to conflict. "The administration at all levels, and to some extent us, used bad information to bolster its case for war," said Sen. John Rockefeller (D) of West Virginia, ranking minority member of the Intelligence Committee. "And we in Congress would not have authorized that war ... if we knew what we know now."

President Bush, however, defends his decision to wage war on Iraq - even with the faulty intelligence. "Although we haven't found stockpiles of weapons, I believe we were right to go into Iraq," he told crowds in Pennsylvania over the weekend. "He [Hussein] had the intent and the capability, which is why I say I would have done it again, because he's a dangerous person."

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