The Senate Intelligence Committee Report

Connecting dots that never existed.

"There is simply no question that mistakes leading up to the war in Iraq rank among the most devastating losses and intelligence failures in the history of the nation," Mr. Rockefeller said. "The fact is that the administration at all levels, and to some extent us, used bad information to bolster its case for war. And we in Congress would not have authorized that war — we would NOT have authorized that war — with 75 votes if we knew what we know now."

The West Virginian went so far as to assert that in some ways the intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq were worse than those that preceded the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "Leading up to Sept. 11, our government didn't connect the dots," he said. "In Iraq, we are even more culpable because the dots themselves never existed."

Mr. Rockefeller went on to challenge one of the Bush administration's basic positions: that the war to topple Mr. Hussein had made the United States, the Middle East and the world safer, notwithstanding the failure so far to find deadly unconventional weapons that the administration had said were a growing danger.

"Tragically, the intelligence failure set forth in this report will affect our national security for generations to come," Mr. Rockefeller said. "Our credibility is diminished. Our standing in the world has never been lower. We have fostered a deep hatred of Americans in the Muslim world, and that will grow. As a direct consequence, our nation is more vulnerable today than ever before."

That assertion is sure to be debated at length, as is the committee's finding that intelligence analysts were not subjected to political pressure. It is known, for instance, that Vice President Dick Cheney has been a frequent visitor to C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va.

Although the report summary found no evidence that Mr. Cheney's visits had been intended to exert pressure, Mr. Rockefeller signaled that the question of who, if anyone, might have brought pressure to bear has not been answered to his satisfaction.

"I felt the definition of `pressure' was very narrowly drawn in the final report," Mr. Rockefeller said, noting that the C.I.A.'s ombudsman, who hears employees' complaints, had found more "hammering on analysts" than ever before in his 32 years at the C.I.A.

Oh yeah, and al Qaeda's finishing up work on the next attack. We're sure of it. Don't know when. Don't know where. In fact, I'm not sure why I'm giving this briefing except Ashcroft and Cheney said today might be a good day to do it. I'll be giving another "warning" later this month.

That is all.