Hightower Lowdown

Iraq is now in a civil war, right? Well, George W's top intelligence team says no-- and yes. I quote: "The term 'civil war' does not adequately capture the complexity of the conflict." But then it says, "nonetheless, the term 'civil war' accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict."

Speaking of intelligence confusion, the Pentagon recently confirmed what we've all known for years: It cooked the intelligence reports so Bush could justify invading Iraq. But then, Bush officials proclaimed that--omigosh!--they've found evidence of weapons from Iran being used in Iraq. They shouted that this is proof--PROOF! --that evil Iran is behind the Iraq mess.

Curiously, though, the officials would not release all of the "evidence." It's deja vu all over again.

Meanwhile, there's the little matter of missing bucks in Iraq. Beaucoup bucks. L. Paul Bremmer III, the guy Bush first installed as overseer of the Iraq occupation, now concedes that he okayed the shipment of $12 billion from the U.S. Treasury to the Iraqi interim government. In cash! Shrink-wrapped stacks of $100 bills were loaded on wooden pallets and flown to Baghdad. It was 363 tons of cash.

Where it went, no one knows. Neither L. Paul III nor the Iraqis bothered to monitor its disbursement. Did some of it go to fund the insurgents who attacked our soldiers? Did corrupt officials stuff their pockets? Did Halliburton and other contractors rip off a wad? We need a new Truman Committee to hold our officials accountable for this disgrace.