Rockefeller, Levin and Feinstein on Truth and Method
The aim stated by Senators Rockefeller, Feinstein and Levin, for the second phase of the work by the Committee to Investigate Pre-Iraq Intelligence is to "assess" whether the intelligence "justified" the public statements made by the Bush Administration. It presumes that the members of this committee can, and will, apply some consistent unbiased standard to the correspondence between the certainty
and uncertainty about what we knew and what administration officials said. They're apparently going to close the gap between natural and scientific language that
Habermas and Gadamer left open. That'll be fun.
But, why do we need a Senate Intelligence Committee to go through these kinds of heuristic deliberations? What makes their rule of thumb better than my rule of thumb, as a citizen, concerning the public statements of our officials? Doesn't their hubris imply a whopping condescension toward those of us in the Peanut Gallery? Why is Carl Levin's opinion about the President's Niger statement better than mine? Will he take into account the fact that Wilson's own debrief with the CIA supported concerns that Iraq was interested in buying uranium, and that the intelligence agencies of the UK and France still maintain that Iraq was seeking such a buy? Or will he just gauge the statement against the common meme that Wilson was truthful in his NYT dispatch, and that he has adequately debunked that whole yellow-cake myth by sipping a little sweet tea in Africa? Anyone taking bets?
And doesn't the urgency placed on this report by the unprecedented grandstanding of the Democrats also imply a profoundly statist deference toward the black-box hermeneutic/analytic skills of a group of high-placed non-experts? Next thing we know they'll be proposing to re-write the New Testament in order to make it more "accurate." They could sure help us out by "assessing" the extent to which the certainties and uncertainties about the Resurrection justify the many public statements about it by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. About time they got around to that, dontcha think?
And how much is this Report from Mount Olympus going to cost us, anyway? Couldn't we just siphon that to the victims of Katrina, Rita, and Wilma? Frankly I'd rather have a comprehensive audit of FEMA. That would make some sense.
Posted by: Demosophist at
10:43 AM
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1
I'm all for an indepth analysis of the pre-war intelligence, as long as it starts with what was so damaging that Sandy Burger had to steal it from the archives and stuff it in his pants? and then let's see what Able Danger identified and whom was responsible for burying it? yeah, let's see some of that "pre-war" intelligence?
Posted by: dave at November 07, 2005 11:34 AM (CcXvt)
2
What I love about this is the Republican response: put together a list of many statements made by administration officials, other elected politicians from both parties, and Clinton administration officials, together with a summary of the intelligence that backed up those statements; then show them to the Senators to decide if they were or were not justified,
but with the statements unattributed. So the Senators who have to decide whether the statements were or were not justified
do not know if the statements were from a Democrat or a Republican. I love it, truly. In fact, I think that's a tactic that we would benefit from as a society if it were used more frequently.
Posted by: Jeff Medcalf at November 07, 2005 11:52 AM (eer2X)
3
This isn't about finding the truth. Its about finding evidence to impeach George W. Bush. Period.
Posted by: J at November 07, 2005 11:54 AM (/P1rH)
4
Yes we are acting just as the enemy expects us to. They don't have to win as long as we will climb over ourselves to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. They can not win any other way. They know us all too well.
Posted by: Howie at November 07, 2005 12:15 PM (D3+20)
5
Have any of these buffoons read the Butler Report?
Posted by: Oyster at November 07, 2005 12:22 PM (fl6E1)
6
Not to sound like a nutcase or anything, but in light of the current state of our civilization, with the subject of this post as a perfect example, I'm actually looking forward to the day that liberals, blacks, illegals, and muslims start rioting and burning here in America, because then We, the People, can do what has needed doing for a long time now;
thin the herd.
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at November 07, 2005 12:34 PM (0yYS2)
7
"Not to sound like a nutcase or anything,..."
I'm sorry, IM. That one tickled me. ;-)
Posted by: Oyster at November 07, 2005 06:17 PM (YudAC)
8
Like they say, you're not paranoid if there's really someone out to get you. It look pretty inevitable; I just want to go ahead and get on with it.
Posted by: Improbulus Maximus at November 07, 2005 08:37 PM (0yYS2)
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