A Flawed Argument In the Case for War (washingtonpost.com)

A Flawed Argument In the Case for War (washingtonpost.com)

Still another of these stories. In this case, the Bush Administration told itself that Iraq was involved with unmanned arial vehicles that could deliver chemical and biological weapons, even under certain conditions to the United States. Turns out that the Air Force was right that these drones were reconnaisance not weapons delivery devices, Iraq didn't have the weapons, and they didn't have the software to target the United States.

The latter part of that tale is worth note. It seems that there was a report that the Iraqi government was making a big push to get navigational software. Turns out that an Australian firm had offered it software that it did not buy, which had the mapping accuracy of perhaps the existing mapping systems for comsumer use.

These stories give me pause. Even the richest country in the world doesn't seem able to get information on so important a matter, when a nation run by what one of these authors termed "semi-literate thugs" plays "keep away". And the Fallows' article suggests that even when it has the information, the United States was unable to turn it into knowledge, and use that knowledge to guide government policy. What are the chances that poor countries will do better?