Opinion of Hillary Clinton

[All Along The Watchtower]

"The intelligence community" is not monolithic. From what I understand, the CIA was under a lot of pressure to tow the administration line, particularly from the Pentagon and the Office of the Vice President. Douglas Feith even had a special office that was dedicated to recycling intel from dubious-at-best sources.

Anyway, a lot of people were warning the Bush administration not to go into Iraq, but those warnings were ignored or scoffed at. Worse, the Republican Party used support of the war as a litmus test for patriotism, and successfully persuaded a majority of the American public that the  invasion of Iraq was a necessary part of the Global War on Terror (despite the fact that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and did not pose an imminent threat to the US or its interests). This was particularly relevant in the 2002 election cycle, when anyone who dared oppose the war was called a terrorist-enabler. Therefore, Hillary and other Democrats'  lack of moral courage may be distressing, but it's somewhat understandable,  considering the context of the time.