# My bullshit meter is pinging **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 7, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203 "2005-10-07T15:23:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/61 "2005-10-12T13:41:32Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **Clothahump** , thanks for your very civil and honest response to my teasing. You’re quite welcome. ::tips hat:: ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/62 "2005-10-12T13:47:13Z")
> [@Evil One](#): > > Allow me to explain the sequence of events that make this possible. > > 1. Soldiers find safe house of terrorist. > 2. Soldiers grab anything that could be of intelligence value, (papers, cell phones, computers) and take them for intelligence analysis. > 3. Intelligence is examined for time-critical information. If any unknown subjects or locations are named, the information is kept quiet and the places/people are monitored in the hopes of capturing more intelligence or a high-value target. > > If you’ll remember, the contents of this letter were only released after some of the information was made public that the administration said was inaccurate. Since the intelligence value was thereby comprimised, the letter was released. Additionally, if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll note that the entire contents of the letter were not made public. > > If you don’t want to believe that any of the above happens, I can’t help you. You can continue to find comfort in the ideological blanket in which you seem to have wrapped your brain. After reading **Biggirl’s** and **antechinus’** posts, in your considerate opinion, who’s the blind ideologue and accomplished contortionist here? And just in case it isn’t clear to you, this, of course, is a rethorical question. All you Bushbots remind me of the phrase: “Please Sir, may have another one?” Enjoy your Turd Sundae. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/63 "2005-10-12T14:57:56Z")
Y’all feeling “chilled”? Boy, I am. I’m chilled to the bone with this chilling information. They’re gonna chill us all. Don’t it say in the Bible “Thou shalt not chill”? Some nuke-u-lar heat ougtta fix their wagons… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/64 "2005-10-12T15:51:29Z")
The good news is that these guys are amazingly stupid! No matter how many times we intercept top level communiques, they never seem to catch on! You’d think they would learn, but they don’t! This must be why we keep catching thier very tippy tip top commanders, the no. 2 guys, almost every other week. And those letters invariably reflect “stay the course” talking points! Why, you’d almost think the letters were manufactured to that end, so carefully do they reflect Bushivik party line. No wonder they are in their death throes! ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/65 "2005-10-12T19:45:10Z")
Y’know, it’s a pity more Bushbots don’t read Arabic, because otherwise the White House could release _shocking!_ and _frightening!_ intercepts in the terrorists’ own handwriting that read, “Achmed, our plan to blow up St. Louis next week is on schedule. All hail our glorious leaders Osama and Saddam! Yes I am a radical underground terrorist, really I am.” ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/66 "2005-10-12T20:00:29Z")
And in [related news](http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-10-11-cia-iraq-report_x.htm), the CIA’s issued a report on Iraq pre-Intelligence: > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON — A newly released report published by the CIA rebukes the Bush administration for not paying enough attention to prewar intelligence that predicted the factional rivalries now threatening to split Iraq. > > Policymakers worried more about making the case for the war, particularly the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, than planning for the aftermath, the report says. The report was written by a team of four former CIA analysts led by former deputy CIA director Richard Kerr. > > “In an ironic twist, the policy community was receptive to technical intelligence (the weapons program), where the analysis was wrong, but apparently paid little attention to intelligence on cultural and political issues (post-Saddam Iraq), where the analysis was right,” they write. Not exactly news to most of us, but nice to see a little official confirmation. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/67 "2005-10-12T22:04:55Z")
“no one could have predicted that they’d fly planes into buildings” “no one could have predicted that the levees would burst” “no one could have predicted that factionalized rivalries would split Iraq” Yep. sounds about right. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/68 "2005-10-12T22:13:47Z")
> [@wring](#): > > “no one could have predicted that they’d fly planes into buildings” > “no one could have predicted that the levees would burst” > “no one could have predicted that factionalized rivalries would split Iraq” > > Yep. sounds about right. No one could have predicted that politicians would use that tired phrase. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![antechinus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@antechinus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antechinus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/69 "2005-10-12T22:59:02Z")
I am waiting for the headline: “Pranksters led to invasion of Iraq”. You know the story. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/70 "2005-10-12T23:23:59Z")
> [@wring](#): > > “no one could have predicted that factionalized rivalries would split Iraq” [US ignored forecasts of Iraqi ethnic turmoil-CIA](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051012/ts_nm/iraq_usa_cia_dc) > [@](#): > > The Bush administration paid scant attention to prewar U.S. intelligence on > Iraq predicting the ethnic and tribal turmoil that now threatens the future of the country, a newly released 2004 CIA report said. > … > The report said the agency was largely correct in its estimate of cultural and political postwar issues and “accurately forecast the reactions of the ethnic and tribal factions in Iraq.” > > The Bush administration suggested early in the Iraq war that American forces would be greeted as liberators by a grateful Iraqi people. > President George W. Bush initially took a cavalier approach to the insurgency, suggesting it would be no threat to U.S. forces there and declaring: “Bring 'em on!” > > But more than two years later the country is gripped by a deadly Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi’ite and Kurdish-led government and U.S. troops and nearly 2,000 U.S. troops have been killed. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/71 "2005-10-12T23:27:56Z")
uh, **Squink**? You didn’t think I was bein’ serious about that, did you? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/72 "2005-10-13T00:22:35Z")
> [@wring](#): > > uh, **Squink**? You didn’t think I was bein’ serious about that, did you? Nah, I just enjoy seeing the administration’s bullshit get shot down. Did you see where Scotty called Katrina an “ultra natural” disaster? > [@](#): > > [MR. McCLELLAN:](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051005-4.html) > …in the event of a major terrorist attack, in the event of a ultra natural disaster like a Hurricane Katrina, or in the event of a disease pandemic… Why must everything that happens to America be supersized like that? Why can’t we just have Tsunamis, or 7.6 earthquakes like a _regular_ nation? Is God _really_ out to get us with all this unforseeable mayem? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/73 "2005-10-13T00:48:38Z")
I think it’s clear that God hates George Bush. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/74 "2005-10-13T01:32:43Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I think it’s clear that God hates George Bush. We let him happen. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/75 "2005-10-13T04:06:46Z")
I’m tired of McClellan’s public scatology. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@The\_Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hook)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/76 "2005-10-13T04:33:19Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > There aren’t any apologists on the board that I know of. Those of us who think Bush has done okay in office simply snicker at threads like these. I’m pretty sure OJ snickers every time Jay’s monologue mentions he’s a murderer. Some of the Enron execs probably snicker, too, when people comment on justice. Hell, even I snicker. I’m not going anywhere for a while. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/77 "2005-10-13T18:07:06Z")
ping! ping! ping! [http://news.yahoo.com/fc/World/Osama\_bin\_Laden\_and\_al\_Qaida](http://news.yahoo.com/fc/World/Osama_bin_Laden_and_al_Qaida) “Al Queda in Iraq says Zawahri letter is a fake” ping! ping! ping! ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/78 "2005-10-13T19:30:03Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > We let him happen. Whaddayamean, “we”, kemosabe? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/79 "2005-10-13T19:31:54Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > After reading **Biggirl’s** and **antechinus’** posts, in your considerate opinion, who’s the blind ideologue and accomplished contortionist here? And just in case it isn’t clear to you, this, of course, is a rethorical question. Everybody has their own agenda and their own audience to play to. It appears you are willing to accept at face value anything that plays against the Bush administration…and that you will immediately dismiss anything they say out of hand. I suspect the truth lies closer to the middle than on either extreme. I don’t go along on intelligence gathering missions to see what happens firsthand, so I can’t speak with certainty about anything. Others, apparently, have no such reservations. ---
**Author:** ![New\_Iskander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/db5fbb/32.png) [@New\_Iskander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Iskander)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203/80 "2005-10-13T19:55:37Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > My bullshit meter broke long before that Commandable In Chief ever stumbled into the Oval Office. That puts it into Clinton years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-bullshit-meter-is-pinging/325203.md?page=5)