Akkam’s Razor

There’s a reason that these topics are intertwined…as we know now from the Downing Street Memo, Bush has clearly lied about having made up his mind on attacking Iraq. So where does Bolton fit in all this, and what documents are being sat on by the Bush Administration?

For starters, there are names of companies and individuals that did business with China (assumingly illegally). As you can see here, there was a lot of activity by John R. Bolton regarding China. Could those same companies be providing missle components (illegally?) to China. Was he also one of the fixers of the pre-war intelligence? Via Mother Jones:

According to Melvin Goodman, a former CIA official and an intelligence specialist at the National War College, the OSP [Office of Special Plans] officials routinely pushed lower-ranking staff around on intelligence matters. “People were being pulled aside [and being told], ‘We saw your last piece and it’s not what we’re looking for,’” he says. “It was pretty blatant.” Two State Department intelligence officials, Greg Thielmann and Christian Westermann, have both charged that pressure was being put on them to shape intelligence to fit policy, in particular from Bolton’s office. “The Al Qaeda connection and nuclear weapons issue were the only two ways that you could link Iraq to an imminent security threat to the U.S.,” Thielmann told the New York Times. “And the administration was grossly distorting the intelligence on both things.”

So it certainly makes sense as to why the Bush Administration may not be so enthused abut sharing of Bolton info…