How long does it take for people to figure out that they've been had? Apparently, a long time.

Another former intelligence officer has come forth to tell what happened to the intelligence services in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Col. W. Patrick Lang, former defense intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) bears personal witness to the corruption of intelligence by the civilians brought into the Defense Department by Dick Cheney, who shaped the intelligence product to conform to their own plans for the Middle East. The neocons' assault upon our intelligence resources has severely damaged the ability of those services to deliver accurate information to our leaders and policy-makers. It appears, unfortunately, that leaders and policy-makers in this administration have no desire for accurate information if it contradicts their neo-conservative beliefs.

Lang's words are harsh and straight to the point:

What does drinking the Kool-Aid mean today? It signifies that the person in question has given up personal integrity and has succumbed to the prevailing group-think that typifies policymaking today. This person has become "part of the problem, not part of the solution."
 
What was the "problem"? The sincerely held beliefs of a small group of people who think they are the "bearers" of a uniquely correct view of the world, sought to dominate the foreign policy of the United States in the Bush 43 administration, and succeeded in doing so through a practice of excluding all who disagreed with them. Those they could not drive from government they bullied and undermined until they, too, had drunk from the vat.
 
What was the result? The war in Iraq. It is not anything like over yet, and the body count is still mounting. As of March 2004, there were 554 American soldiers dead, several thousand wounded, and more than 15,000 Iraqis dead (the Pentagon is not publicizing the number). The recent PBS special on Frontline concerning Iraq mentioned that senior military officers had said of General Franks, "He had drunk the Kool-Aid." Many intelligence officers have told the author that they too drank the Kool-Aid and as a result consider themselves to be among the "walking dead," waiting only for retirement and praying for an early release that will allow them to go away and try to forget their dishonor and the damage they have done to the intelligence services and therefore to the republic.

With the appointment of Porter Goss as director of the C.I.A., there is now a purge going on that will cripple the agency for many years to come, as some of the best and most experienced managers and directors leave because they are dedicated to delivering accurate and truthful intelligence rather than fictions supporting the aims of Cheney and Bush. We are already paying the price for deliberately blinding ourselves.

Lang's article, Drinking the Kool-Aid, published in the Journal of the Middle East Policy Council, comes by way of the Maha Blog. It can be downloaded as a pdf file from the website.