Intelligence and facts were retrofitted to fit an already-made war decision

Evidence

With regime change per se a hard sell—and a violation of international law—the alleged imminent grave threat of lethal weapons in Saddam’s hands became the reason for preemptive military action. The Bush administration having made the decision to oust Saddam, the intelligence and the facts were shaped to justify it. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2316 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Assessing the future course of violence and the best means of dealing with it can be flawed by bias-based social as well judgmental errors from uncertain information. The information on which judgments are made may be tainted by the policy biases of those gathering and interpreting it (March, 1982). For example, the justification for the second Iraq war was based on flawed and fabricated information that Iraq had at least the potential to build nuclear weapons and that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and was linked to al Qaeda. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 395 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Western intelligence reframed Soviet intentions before capabilities changed — Robert B. McCalla, NATO’s persistence after the cold war, 47; Decision-makers shape facts to retroactively justify an already-chosen course of action — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2316; Iraq-war justifications derived from policy-biased intelligence that framed flawed information — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 395 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Decision-makers shape facts to retroactively justify an already-chosen course of action #corroborates (0.98) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2316
• Iraq-war justifications derived from policy-biased intelligence that framed flawed information #exemplifies (0.92) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 395