I'm about halfway through Hubris: The Inside Story Of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War. The research that went into the writing of this book was quite extensive. It's written as a time line which is the way with most books of this type. For me, the book reads like a political thriller, but then I like to read books like this one where the author presents what led up to the incident under the microscope of public consumption and the media circus atmosphere. In following on-going events, there's too much speculation and downright garbage tossed in with the isolated fact or two because tv pundits have time to fill, and they'll do that by whatever means possible. That would include making stuff up if necessary.
I know I'm supposed to be appalled and very very put out with the Bush Administration for pushing the Iraq War on my country. That has been evident for the entire time our military has been valiantly fighting in what I believe is the armpit of the world. The thing is, though, there are no clear cut conclusions that can be reached from any of the intelligence our country or any other country had about what in blazes was going on in Iraq with either WMD's or sponsoring terrorism. The best intelligence gathering could do was express a likelihood about whether such and such a piece of information was accurate. Which means to me that while apparently the Bush Administration was wrong about some conclusions they reached before invading Iraq, so was the rest of the world's intelligence gathering organizations. We were not the only country who had information leading to the conclusion that Iraq was up to no good with WMD's and terrorist sponsorship. All anyone could ever say was, "They probably don't..." or "It's not likely they do..." when asked to defend a position in disagreement with those who believed something different about Hussein than what the Coalition Forces believed.
I'm not letting Bush or anyone in his administration off the hook completely, but I'm not going to get my dress up over my head in shocked and devastated betrayal because NOW the media tells me I was lied to. Yeah? Well, if Bush had been right, and there's every possibility he could have been, there'd be a different tune being sung, and that ol' mission WOULD have been accomplished.
But there's something else on my mind that I'm learning through reading Hubris and that is that Former Ambassador Joe Wilson is a complete and total shit. That man caused a whole lot of trouble NOT because he gave a fat rat's ass about whether the American people got the whole truth, snippets of truth, or no truth at all. No, Joe Wilson has a monumental ego plus he's an attention whore. He wanted the world to know that he knew something about one piece of information included in the lead up to the decision to invade Iraq. He never for a moment stopped to consider the jeopardy into which he was placing his wife, her job, her contacts in her job, or even his family. All he cared about was making noise enough to get some prime time attention for himself. It was all a huge pissing contest, and Valerie Plame Wilson lost without ever being given the necessary equipment to compete.
If I were Valerie Plame Wilson, I would dump Joe Wilson in the nearest yellowcake uranium mine and let him rot there forever. I haven't read anything to indicate Valerie Wilson even made Joe sleep on the couch for a while, but I hope she held him accountable for at least some of the trouble he brought down on her unsuspecting head.
There's gotta be justice for somethings, and spousal betrayal should bring with it a death sentence. And you can quote me on that.
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