Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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Sixteen Words

Monday July 14, 2003

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This is the excerpt from the President's State of the Union Address last January which has everyone's bloomers in a twist:

The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.

That would be sixteen words. Sixteen words which, by the way, the Brits still swear by.

Here's everyone who says that the story about those 16 words in the President's speech is correct:

The President of the United States
The Secretary of State of the United States
The National Security Advisor of the United States
The Director of Central Intelligence of the United States
The Prime Minister of Great Britain
The Head of MI-5 of Great Britain

As all of these people agree, it is not clear to me where the phrase "finger-pointing" enters into this.

In any event, here's a list of everyone who has remained silent on the issue:

Every other intelligence agency on the planet - INCLUDING THE FRENCH

And, here's the list of people who are questioning the veracity of the story:

The Democratic Party of the United States
Democratic Candidates for President
The WELPs - The Washington Elite Liberal Press Corps
The man whose photo is next to the dictionary entry for the term "disgruntled employee" - Hans Blix

Yesterday, on MSNBC, I made the point that, while this story is big, big, big in Washington and among political junkies like you and me, it is not likely to be having a great impact on the population in general.

Why? Because a poll released mid-week showed that 66% of Democrats STILL can't name a single candidate for the Democratic nomination for President.

And, before you think that poll was taken in my garage, I hasten to point out that it was a CBS poll. CBS is not normally identified as a semi-official mouthpiece of the Republican National Committee.

The sniping about the pre-war intelligence started in Great Britain when it was discovered that a portion of the intelligence dossier used by PM Blair last winter had been taken from the dissertation of a doctoral student which had been posted on the Internet.

As it happens, I met the young man in question last week in Kuwait and he stands by his research, as well. I gave him some excellent academic advice which you can read about on the Secret Decoder Ring Page.

This whole thing has all the earmarks of an "August Story." Remember last August's Story? No? Hmm. What a surprise.

The August Story last year was: When President Bush was a director of an oil company called Harken Energy, he borrowed money from the corporation to purchase stock in the corporation.

The New York Times pointed out that, in addition to this being legal, appropriate, ethical and widely done; Bush "ultimately returned the stock, canceling the loans."

Most August Stories have limited staying power.

The only answer which matters to the question about whether going to war in Iraq was the right decision or the wrong decision will come clear over the next year.

If the region is calmer, if the world is safer, if Iraq continues on the road to freedom - and makes some steps toward democracy - then the answer will be "yes."

Over the weekend - escaping notice because of the 16 word flap - the first meeting of the new Iraqi Council took place. This was the lead from the BBC website:

Iraq has taken its first step towards self-government since the fall of Saddam Hussein with the inaugural meeting of a governing council composed of Iraqi nationals.

The council is made up of Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, a Christian and a Turkoman.

The council's first official act was to make April 9 a national holiday. April 9 was the day the statue of Saddam was pulled down in Baghdad.

Sixteen words, or 16 million words. The early returns from Baghdad are: This was a good thing.

On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A photo of the Mullmeister with the kid who wrote the intelligence estimate; a GREAT Catchy Caption/Separated at Birth, an interesting Mullfoto, and what MI-5 is!

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