Bush Misused Iraq intelligence: Senate report

There's a surprise for you...

Reuters article.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and his top policymakers misstated Saddam Hussein's links to terrorism and ignored doubts among intelligence agencies about Iraq's arms programs as they made a case for war, the Senate intelligence committee reported on Thursday.

The report shows an administration that "led the nation to war on false premises," said the committee's Democratic Chairman, Sen. John Rockefeller of West Virginia.

But of course, the Republicans protest:

Several Republicans on the committee protested its findings as a "partisan exercise."

Nevertheless,

The long-delayed Senate study supported previous reports and findings that the administration's main cases for war -- that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was spreading them to terrorists -- were inaccurate and deeply flawed.

"The president and his advisors undertook a relentless public campaign in the aftermath of the (September 11) attacks to use the war against al Qaeda as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein," Rockefeller said in written commentary on the report.

"Representing to the American people that the two had an operational partnership and posed a single, indistinguishable threat was fundamentally misleading and led the nation to war on false premises."

And let's not forget the White House chiming in:

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said: "We had the intelligence that we had, fully vetted, but it was wrong. We certainly regret that and we've taken measures to fix it."

Um. Taking measures to fix it?! Isn't it just a LITTLE TOO LATE? The war is, after all, already being fought. How do you "fix" this?! You "regret that?!" Yeah, tell that to the over four THOUSAND young soldiers and heros as well as untold thousands of wounded that you're going to "fix it."

Oh, by the way, even two Republicans supported and approved the report for release...