The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes on the declassified National Intelligence Estimate:
“I think one of the things we saw this week, and this, this speaks directly to what the vice president told me, is with this — the release of this NIE we saw a shift in thinking. I think for a long time administration critics had begun to make the argument that really this al-Qaeda threat is overblown, that they misled us into the war in Iraq, they’re misleading us about the seriousness of the threat from al-Qaeda. And I think what the NIE does, even though in some ways it’s, it’s very critical of the administration, is it strengthens the basic case that the administration has been making that al-Qaeda remains a serious threat.”
I have no idea what Hayes is talking about. Or, more precisely, Hayes has no idea what he’s talking about.
Where are these mysterious White House “critics” who’ve been arguing that the al Qaeda threat is “overblown”? Seriously, name some prominent Bush detractors who have argued this, in Hayes’ words, “for a long time.” I’m relatively clued into Democratic talking points and I can’t recall any Democrat or left-leaning political figure ever making this argument in any forum, in any context. Hayes appears to have simply made it up in the hopes of making the NIE appear more favorable for his White House allies.
Which segues to the other problem: the NIE doesn’t strengthen the Bush’s gang’s “basic case” at all. The White House has said, repeatedly, that thanks to the president’s leadership, we’ve destroyed al Qaeda’s leadership and have the terrorist network on the run. The NIE, in stark contrast, shows the opposite and vindicates what White House critics have been arguing for years. While the president’s policies have been failing in Iraq, al Qaeda is rebuilding, recruiting, and refilling its coffers — in large part because of the president’s failed policies in Iraq.
And yet there was Hayes, on national television, making an argument that was clearly false, predicated on straw men and imaginary progress.
The mind reels.
