More Bush lies...ho hum

The Washington Post's main above-the-fold story today was about how the intelligence on Iraq was outpaced by the march to war in Iraq: "Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting Evidence". The Post article focuses in on the claim by the Bush Administration that high-quality aluminum tubes imported into Iraq could be used for uranium enrichment; in fact the tubes appear to be specially designed for rockets:

According to knowledgeable U.S. and overseas sources, experts from U.S. national laboratories reported in December to the Energy Department and U.S. intelligence analysts that Iraq was manufacturing copies of the Italian-made Medusa 81. Not only the Medusa's alloy, but also its dimensions, to the fraction of a millimeter, matched the disputed aluminum tubes.

Does this constitute another "lie" by President Bush? Well, as the article clearly indicates, there were elements within the intelligence community ("Joe") who believed that the aluminum tubes could be used for uranium enrichment. This leads me to a couple of conclusions:

1.) Bush believed the intelligence that represented a graver threat
2.) If doubts were raised on the intel, Bush chose to err on the side of caution by accepting a worst-case scenario
and
3.) If the tubes weren't used for U-235 enrichment, Saddam Hussein was still trying to build a rocket

I think it's same to assume he wasn't gearing up Iraq's space program.