Reply #13: Look, this is very, very important.

[The Stranger]

If someone walks inside and his or her clothes are wet, I can make a reasoned analysis that it is raining outside. I must also, however, consider the possibility that the person has just taken a shower, or his or her hair has the appearance of being wet when in fact it is not.

I would not conclude "without doubt" (as Cheney repeated over and over and over) that it was any particular one of these without proof. Instead, I would consider the evidence underlying each and try to make reasoned determinations based on what I knew and what I could reasonably assume. Nothing else. Or I would try to find out more (send in the UN inspectors).

Bush went to war over it. Bush cherrypicked the possibilities and preemptively concluded that the person had just taken a shower so that he could have his preemptive war. Bush stated unequivocally it could not be rain without even trusting people outside who told him it was raining (Blix, Ritter, Kaye). Bush concluded that the person's hair was wet despite never having examined it.

Tenet is trying to wake you up to the fact that all sides were presented, but Bush chose to kill and wage war based on only part of the picture -- part of the picture that was not only possibly wrong at the time, but has been proven to be wrong now.

Wake up, people.