Well, Which Is It Already?

Love these two headlines from today:

Reuters: White House ignored CIA over Iraq uranium claim

AP: Bush: CIA Cleared Iraq Uranium Claim

It's almost comical. Only a few people know what really happened. Everything else is speculation and muckraking.

What is the new news that's coming out here? Nothing. Once again, we have found out that our intelligence was wrong and that we used bad information in making a decision. It's not the first time this has happened and I'm guessing it won't be the last.

The CIA is doing an excellent job with the limited resources and tools it can use. But too often it is unable to get firsthand intelligence on something and is forced to rely on secondhand information (like the British report on the uranium).

I hate to admit it, but John Kerry is partially right. There does need to be a full and honest accounting of recent intelligence failures. But with that, there also needs to be a proposed solution - how do we intend to fix it? A Congressional Inquiry is all well and fine, but once you know the problems you can't just shrug your shoulders and go "Oh. OK" and walk away. Something has to be done to correct the shortcomings.

Increased funding and more operational latitude will most likely be the necessary solutions to our current problems. Maybe it's time to start working with "unsavory" characters again - after all they're more likely to steal secrets for us than upstanding members of the community.

Maybe it's time to let the boys at the CIA be cowboys again.