Phase 2

Telling us something that you knew already if you were paying attention, we have finally have the Phase 2 Investigation into the lead-up to the war in Iraq. Phase 1 of the investigation was into the flaws in intelligence, whereas Phase 2 is the inquiry into how the public case for war was made by the Administration.

It is damning:

• Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.
• Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.
• Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.
• Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.
• The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.
• The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.

They swore to threats that were contradicted by available intelligence. That's called lying. The White House push back that this contradictory intelligence never made it to the president runs afoul of their often-cited theory of the Unitary Executive. If someone in the executive branch new it, then the Executive knew it, and they are accountable.