The CIA has just now declassified the report that was used to justify the invasion of Iraq. Guess what? It does not justify the invasion of Iraq.

Courtesy of Vice:  

For the first time, the public can now read the hastily drafted CIA document that led Congress to pass a joint resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq, a costly war launched March 20, 2003 that was predicated on "disarming" Iraq of its (non-existent) WMD, overthrowing Saddam Hussein, and "freeing" the Iraqi people. 

A report issued by the government funded think-tank RAND Corporation last December titled "Blinders, Blunders and Wars" said the NIE "contained several qualifiers that were dropped…. As the draft NIE went up the intelligence chain of command, the conclusions were treated increasingly definitively." 

An example of that: According to the newly declassified NIE, the intelligence community concluded that Iraq "probably has renovated a [vaccine] production plant" to manufacture biological weapons "but we are unable to determine whether [biological weapons] agent research has resumed." The NIE also said Hussein did not have "sufficient material" to manufacture any nuclear weapons. But in an October 7, 2002 speech in Cincinnati, Ohio, then-President George W. Bush simply said Iraq, "possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons" and "the evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program." 

One of the most significant parts of the NIE revealed for the first time is the section pertaining to Iraq's alleged links to al Qaeda. In September 2002, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claimed the US had "bulletproof" evidence linking Hussein's regime to the terrorist group. 

"We do have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of al Qaeda members, including some that have been in Baghdad," Rumsfeld said. "We have what we consider to be very reliable reporting of senior-level contacts going back a decade, and of possible chemical- and biological-agent training." 

But the NIE said its information about a working relationship between al Qaeda and Iraq was based on "sources of varying reliability" — like Iraqi defectors — and it was not at all clear that Hussein had even been aware of a relationship, if in fact there were one. 

"As with much of the information on the overall relationship, details on training and support are second-hand," the NIE said. "The presence of al-Qa'ida militants in Iraq poses many questions. We do not know to what extent Baghdad may be actively complicit in this use of its territory for safehaven and transit."

That is just a portion of a much longer article, virtually all of it refuting what we were all told during the build up to the invasion, and Vice also has the actual report embedded for those who want to read it for themselves. 

Here is what really sticks in my craw.

This report was supposedly readily available to both the Senate and Congress to help its members make perhaps the MOST important decision of their careers, and yet still they voted to support Bush and his unnecessary war.

To my mind that makes those who voted in favor partly culpable for the damage that resulted from the decision to move forward even in the face of such unconvincing evidence.

Which also means, and yes I know I'm on thin ice with some of you, Hillary Clinton.

More from the article:

According to the latest figures compiled by Iraq Body Count, to date more than 200,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, although other sources say the casualties are twice as high. More than 4,000 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, and tens of thousands more have been injured and maimed. The war has cost US taxpayers more than $800 billion. 

And as President Obama recently pointed out the fallout from the war is far from over since it was instrumental in the creation of ISIS.

Of course it will not make any difference in the general, especially since it is likely she will run against the brother of the man who started the war in the first place, but it is just one more reason that voting for Hillary in 2016 will feel more like an obligation rather than a privilege.