Not everybody affiliated with the White House agreed with the WMD Commission’s findings on the Bush administration’s false Niger claims. In fact, a group of advisors closer to the Oval Office privately told President Bush in 2003 he was at fault.
In December 2003, the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board — a discreet panel of administration friends and national security experts — quietly advised President Bush that he shared blame with the CIA for using the false claims, according to a Washington Post article an anonymous TPMm reader passed along.
“The findings of the advisory board. . . make it clear that the White House should share blame with the CIA for allowing the questionable material into the speech,” wrote Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus, citing anonymous sources. (The PFIAB — an eclectic group of individuals who are either very wealthy, very powerful or very knowledgeable — does not publicly discuss its work.)
By contrast, the White House’s Robb-Silberman Commission blamed the intelligence community for the President’s use of the Niger uranium myth. On “60 Minutes” last night, former senior CIA official Tyler Drumheller disputed that conclusion. “It just sticks in my craw every time I hear them say it’s an intelligence failure. It’s an intelligence failure. This was a policy failure.”
