With two presidential debates coming up this week, it might be an appropriate time for someone -- a panelist, a citizen, anybody -- to ask each of the candidates one simple question: why didn't you read the NIE, the National Intelligence Estimate requested by the Senate and prepared by the CIA -- before you voted for the Iraq War? Only 6 Senators, according to the Washington Post, availed themselves of that opportunity -- an important one, for the full NIE, unlike the "executive summary" to which Senator Clinton devoted herself, included the crucial footnotes in which the dissenting opinions of intel agencies -- such as Energy and State's insistence that the aluminum tubes were not for centrifuges -- were presented.
Failing to read the full NIE, then voting for the war based on its assumptions, is arguably a serious dereliction of responsibility. And, since the CIA, understanding the administration's priorities, made sure the dissents were only presented in the endnotes to the complete document, failing to read that entire document implies each Congressperson's complicity -- knowingly or unknowingly -- in a conspiracy of ignorance.
So, will someone ask each candidate, in both parties, this simple question: why wasn't it worth an hour or two, or three, of your time to read the full NIE, complete with footnotes of dissent, before you voted to send Americans, and America to war?
UPDATE: Around the half-hour mark of the Democratic debate, Wolf Blitzer indeed asked a form of this question, i.e., "do you regret not reading the NIE before casting your vote?"