US and the World

The State of the Union Address

Memo for the President

The group of veteran intelligence officers proffer advice on how the upcoming State of the Union address should be framed. They include as an attachment the one they wrote this time last year, which opens with:

As you prepare to make the case against Iraq in your State of the Union address Tuesday, beware the consequences of favoring ideologues and spin-doctors over the professional intelligence officers paid to serve you.

Until last week many Americans were inclined to take your top aides at their word that the looming war with Iraq is not about oil or vengeance but rather about Iraq's continuing pursuit of "weapons of mass destruction." Now all but the most unquestioning loyalists are having serious second thoughts.

Doubt grew exponentially as France and Germany, with whom we have extensive intelligence sharing arrangements, took strong issue with your administration's claims about Iraq. Those two major allies and others have concluded that the evidence that Iraq is continuing to pursue new weapons of mass destruction is far from conclusive and that it falls far short of justification for starting a war.

And it closes:

Good luck Tuesday evening. Please cool the rhetoric and stay close to the facts.

We know how well he heeded their admonition. There is no reason to anticipate a change in his behavior.