I believe the administration exaggerated the threat to America for not just the Iraq war, but also for other purposes, like passing the Patriot Act... which gives more power to intelligence agencies. By passing the blame for bad info onto the intelligence community, they might push themselves back to square one. Democrats or whomever might use this so-called failure in intelligence to demand a repeal of the act and an overhaul of the system.
Oh the irony.
Oh the irony.