Intelligence failure

Atrios points us to a New York Times story which further underlines that administration claims about Iraq's nuclear program were not honest intelligence, but deceitful misreadings of the evidence.

Before Ms. Rice made those remarks, she was aware that the government's foremost nuclear experts had concluded that the tubes were most likely not for nuclear weapons at all.
...
In making the case that the tubes were for centrifuges, Mr. Powell made claims that his own intelligence experts had told him were not accurate.

Liars.

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Update for the convenience of readers of my comment-reading public: Paul Krugman's article "Ignorance Isn't Strength"

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have an unparalleled ability to insulate themselves from inconvenient facts. They lead a party that controls all three branches of government, and face news media that in some cases are partisan supporters, and in other cases are reluctant to state plainly that officials aren't telling the truth. They also still enjoy the residue of the faith placed in them after 9/11.

This has allowed them to engage in what Orwell called "reality control." In the world according to the Bush administration, our leaders are infallible, and their policies always succeed. If the facts don't fit that assumption, they just deny the facts.

As always with Krugman, the whole thing is a good read, though it's probably nothing y'all don't already know.