Operation "Reverse Engines Full": George Will Invalidates Preemptive War!

Remember the scene in Titantic where the iceberg has been spotted, and the crew scrambles to reverse those gigantic engines? Well, conservative journalists and pundits alike have just done the same thing with regards to their views of CIA intelligence. Before the Kay Report loomed out of the quiet January night, they regaled us with the timidity of the Intelligence Community. Now that the WMD are fully recognized to not be there, the story is that the CIA sold the White House a hyped bill of goods.

Atrios has sounded the Google call: Document the Reverse Engine Full. I'm taking George "Is Anybody Listening" Will. And while the search is on, I've landed a peach of a quote from Mr. Will:

ABCNEWS' Michel Martin said the discussion has implications for future administration efforts to build a foreign policy consensus.

"If the administration wants to go forward in Iran, in other places where there are concerns about nuclear programs being developed, and if the public — not just the American public but the broader public — comes to believe that they played fast and loose with their facts, there's going to be hell to pay when they make any effort to engage in a similar kind of policy," said Martin.

Will agreed.

"It is the case that the administration says we're going to find them," said Will, of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. "If we don't find them then the doctrine of preemption is gone, because preemption presupposes a certain degree of confidence in your intelligence."

This Week Roundtable, June 22, 2003

Maybe a better name for this would be "Operation Shooting Fish in Barrel".