http://slate.msn.com/id/2080583/ The CIA covers its ass today in both the Washington Post and the New York Times, further distancing itself from the forged documents the Bush administration forwarded to the United Nations to support its case that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium. News that the documents were forged has given succor to Bush administration critics, who accuse the government of ginning up evidence against Iraq to justify war. The story behind the forged documents and how they made their way from the United States to U.N. inspectors is important because it suggests the Bush administration is 1) incompetent; 2) stupid; 3) corrupt; or 4) all of the above. Both the Post and Times stories sympathize with the CIA. Both portray the agency as bullied by the Bush administration but still having the balls to convey its doubts about the docs as they moved up the chain of command.
The CIA has become politicized, which should be really scary to everyone. For the pro-war people, imagine if Hillary Clinton ran the CIA, and you get a bit of the feeling that the rest of us have when reading this: Then again, maybe the answer is obvious: the CIA is run by Al Qaeda and Saddam jointly.
I just saw a pig go by... Wait - the skeptical left is believing what CIA agents are saying now? The end must be nearer than I thought... (actually, in all seriousness, this ain't cool but unfortunately is not unexpected)
What do you mean 'has become'? That implies that it ever wasn't. The CIA was more or less created by one man ('Wild Bill' Donavon), whose own world view was about as politicized as they come. From the mid-50s through the end of the 60s, the CIA was basically paralyzed by the widespread conviction that there was a Soviet mole in their ranks. Anyone who seemed to have the wrong politics or lifestyle was automatically a suspect. Then, there was the whole mess that William Casey wrought in the Reagan years. The only thing these stories tell us about the CIA is that they aren't in the war party.
Fair enough. As far as "the left" believing the CIA: no, of course the UN inspectors and CIA communists have conspired to lie about lying about Iraq. Sure, right, whatever.