I am being a bear about the WMD historical record is not to rehab Bush and especially not Rumsfeld (who anyone who knew me in 2002-2006 could tell you I despised). I am doing so in part because a lot of good people you've never heard of were doing their best to figure it out. /1
One of the things I learned writing a book about preventive war is that a lot of people in the U.S. and Europe who worked these issues were genuinely worried and weren't sure what they were seeing. They were terrified of getting it wrong. /2
The political pressure on them to find a way to rationalize taking out Saddam was intense, but the idea of "taking out Saddam" was not as reviled as it is now, no matter what revisionism you're being fed. The idea that everyone was lying is shitting on decent people. /3
There were people who had real concerns in every direction, and who were not just tools of Bush or Rummy or whoever. If you think it's easy to reach intel evaluations that could have massive, life or death implications, then you're an idiot. /4x
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