not unlike what the Trump Whitehouse is doing now -
- what Congress and the American people (in general) were willing to accept doesn't make Cheney's or Bush's statements any less manufactured.
Anecdotally, this household knew there were no WMD - we went over and over the Bush/Cheney evidence and could see nothing to support their claims
in fact the opposite.
1. Blix and his crew found nothing, no evidence of anything other than degraded facilities
facilities which some contained inert and aged evidence of agents that were unusable and presented no danger - sanctions on Iraq had depleated
almost everything in Iraq - any wealth that could be used for producing WMD on a mass scale had been usurped by Hussein for his many palaces
2. Wilson's op-ed about the Yellow Cake and Aluminum Rods was compelling information
3. Entrance into Iraq was very closely guarded, their ports, borders and air. 4. In all the years under surveillance especially by air suddenly there were
these mobile stations for producing biological agents never before noticed? 5. Powell claimed first hand information but could not prove this in any capacity
6. Powell also claimed that there were hundreds of tons of biological agents already produced.
7. Tenet and the Whitehouse had massaged the public and our allies for 18 months talking about a smoking gun - the apocalypse was upon us. The media
including the NYTimes, WPO, LATimes and every major heavy print had been seeded with false info by Tenet and the Whitehouse (Cheney) so much so that
when Powell presented info at the UN (info he suspected or knew was mostly false - he's said so since) it was believable to those who hadn't bothered to give
a look see in what was happening up until then.
Much of what we learned about the classified info appears to have been created as an after argument to support any reason or to justify the secret info
that could not be divulged in 2002. Powell's presentation at the UN wasn't the cause for US going to war but his performance was definitely the icing on the (yellow) cake.
Powell himself has said, Bush and Co. had fabricated evidence for which he is now ashamed of presenting to the American public as it will be on his record
for eternity.
All other info which didn't support the cause for an invasion was set aside no matter how compelling (as you noted - Supporting preferred information).
To me, That's lying. I don't see this as a minor mistake or a mistake - it was intended and to me, that's lying.
I'm not trying to relitigate the Iraq invasion, but it's difficult to hear others who are still willing to grace the Bush admin with reasonable doubt.