Watching "Dead Wrong?" I have a question. Imagine you're not a DUer...

[Skip Intro]

Poll question: Watching "Dead Wrong?" I have a question. Imagine you're not a DUer...

Imagine you're a cable news-watching, un/underinformed viewer of this special.

What impression do get? Who do you walk away thinking is to blame for wrongly invading Iraq - bush admin, or CIA?

I'm watching this thing, and it just looks to me like the intel community is deemed the culprit. Intel, intel, intel, over and over. A hint here and a mention there about intel being misued, but overall, imho, CNN sez the ultimate party responsible is the CIA (how many times did they say "slam dunk"?).

Just wondering how those who watched felt about the gist of the show. Who did CNN just imply was to blame for the bloody invasion that just keeps on giving?

[liberaliraqvet26]

1. I think it was a spanking...

not a beat down but a start.

[Son of California]

2. They didn't say it outright, but they hinted over and over again

IT WAS THE WHITE HOUSE THAT LIED>>>>>

[joemurphy]

15. Why don't they say it outright? That's the problem.

Same gutless journalism we always get.

[joemurphy]

3. They blame Tenet and the CIA

It was a whitewash in my opinion. Not a total whitewash, but still a whitewash.

[ellenfl]

4. the intel agencies supplied the intel to the admin.

they took no responsibility for interpreting it. the admin did that. i thought that was made clear with the segment on powell at the u.n. that's what i got from the show.

i'm just amazed it was aired! i told my bf that this was history in the making . . . a network showing a negative piece about bushco.

ellen fl

[xray s]

5. Tenet's a creep

he let the CIA take the blame for Cheney and Rumsfeld's lies.

[globalvillage]

6. Both

More blame on the admin than I expected, less than I hoped.
But I'll take it. It was a victory, any way you slice it.

28. Baby steps

Yeah...baby steps maybe but "steps" just the same

[Armstead]

7. Both

I think they made Tenant look bad, but they also made the administration look bad.

Made the CUA grunts look good.

Kinda let Colin off the hook, and glossed over how long he stayed on board after that. Powell's subsequent efforts to justify it are what really pissed me off. he should quit as soon as he knew he had been misled.

[caligirl]

8. This thing is on east coast time now? I am seeing Larry King out here

[rainy]

11. you missed it. It was on at 8:00

[auntAgonist]

9. when is/was this on? n/t

[RamboLiberal]

10. CNN repeats it at 11PM Eastern Time tonight

As I post it's now 9:09 in the East - so it repeats in a little under 2 hours.

[caligirl]

12. Thanks I'll watch it.

[auntAgonist]

14. thanks, much appreciated! nt

[Fridays Child]

13. Bush admin. It was couched cautiously enough that those...

...who wish to believe otherwise would not be too upset by the presentation. Anyone without a strong opinion either way, though, would probably come away with the idea that the Bush admin is guilty.

[KC21304]

16. Who was the guy who said, Kennedy took the blame for

the Bay of Pigs, LBJ took the blame for Vietnam, Reagan took the blame for Iran Contra ( well maybe ) but Bush and Co put all the blame on the Intel community ? I have to watch again and take notes..

[tinfoilinfor2005]

17. I think one of the CIA guys...

I got the feeling they were really pissed that it was being dumped on them because all along they were being pressured to present the evidence that the administration wanted to hear. This was repeated several times.

[Skip Intro]

18. I'll watch it again too. I don't think I saw what most seem to have seen.

I think CNN just helped bush in the eyes of some people. People want someone to blame, even people who like bush, for the disaster that his invasion has become. And I think CNN just placed a lot of blame on the CIA, as if there were never any warnings to the regime that the what they were saying was bullsit. There were, and plenty.


This takes some pressure off bush, in the eyes of some, imho.

[HeeBGBz]

20. I did not see that at all

I will rewatch but I don't see it blaming CIA. I saw the Bush admin going to Iraq and them picking and choosing their intelligence to support that plan.

[Skip Intro]

21. 2nd viewing.It still seemed an effort to place blame on the CIA, imho. n/t

[HeeBGBz]

22. It looked like they were

Putting the blame on the CIA, but every time they did they would have someone else on that pointed it back to the * admin. At least, that's how it appeared to me.

I only made it halfway through the second viewing, before I went to bed.

[babylonsister]

25. FWIW, HeeBGBz, I agree with you. I thought

the * admin was portrayed as totally guilty for picking and choosing intel that they knew were lies to convince us. How about the mention of that e-mail that they failed to show Powell? I was so delighted to see this on CNN!

[Crunchy Frog]

19. I agree with your impression.

I felt like ultimately it was the CIA that was being held responsible. I was surprised that there was no mention of Wilson or Plame, when they had the perfect opening. It also seemed like at the end, they were making Negroponte out to be some sort of white knight.

I haven't watched MSM in so long that I may be being a little overcritical.

[babylonsister]

26. I figure they didn't have enough time to get into

Traitorgate but am hopeful another program regarding Plame might be in the offing. That's why it's crucial to write CNN and thank them for their efforts.

[liberalitch]

23. When the Former CIA guy said..... About the intel reports:

I think they were called E-something or another (...remember, I'm NOT a DUer) and they said that every administartion (even ray-gun) when they requested one for some reason or another (ie. Bombing Libya) they ALWAYS said "Give us what you have"
This administration said, in essence, "give us what we want"..... That would have sent up red flags for me.

[Not_Giving_Up]

24. The point was made that CIA directors take falls for the CIC

Every time something goes wrong. It was a subtle dig, but some parts of it were blatant.

[tomg]

27. It seemed pretty clear that Bush

and the others were ultimately to blame in "Dead Wrong." Granted the phrase "slam dunk" came up over and over again, but what came up at least as often was "give us everything you have." The presentation suggested - to me, at least - that the administration was going to war in Iraq come hell or high water, and then use the CIA for cover in case things went wrong. If anything, I got the impression that where the CIA was to blame was that they went along with it and abetted it - in short, no one resigned in disgust - the phrase isn't really accutrate enough but I haven't had any coffee yet. Bush, Chaney, Rice and the rest of the real inner circle came across as pretty despicable in the almost melodramatic sense; Tenet and Powell seemed almost tragic figures - purely in the literary sense of the word - as those who knew the right thing to do but were morally flawed and didn't do it.