Is President Obama Politicizing Intelligence?

The Obama Administration's Troubling History Of Politicizing Intelligence -- Kori Schake, Shadow Government/Foreign Policy

For months, the Obama administration has been avoiding the conclusion that the Assad government used chemical weapons in its armed struggle to suppress its citizens. As recently as yesterday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel rebuffed the notion, saying "suspicions are one thing; evidence is another."

Today the White House finally conceded the point. "Our intelligence community does assess with varying degrees of confidence that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent Sarin," the administration wrote in a letter to Congress.

But even now, the White House is insisting it needs to gather the facts and called for a U.N. investigation, a convenient method of continuing to stall on Syria.

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My Comment: President Bush was accused of politicizing intelligence on Iraq .... having to then endure years of Democrat and media/pundit criticisms for the decisions that he made. But for this President and how he has politicized intelligence .... nothing .... not even a whimper.

Because the U.S. public has zero interest to get involved in another Middle East war .... President Obama will be getting a pass on how he has managed this crisis. Unfortunately .... his credibility on the international stage is now "shot" .... his "red lines" have been revealed for what they are .... threats with no substance behind it.

As a result of this perception .... I predict that countries like North Korea and Iran will feel even more embolden to continue with their WMD programs and to continue issuing even more threats to their neighbors. And as for those who are being threatened .... Israel being the first country that comes to my mind .... they will now probably pursue a more independent path that will not involve the U.S. in their decision making process .... a dangerous precedent because if our allies do initiate independent military actions, I doubt that the U.S. can stay out of it for long.