Read the terrorism report here
The National Intelligence Estimate, declassified Tuesday by President Bush, has concluded that Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for jihadists. Read the declassified portion of the report here.
Here's the Associated Press' take on the story:
"At a news conference Tuesday, Bush said critics who believe the Iraq war has worsened terrorism are naive and mistaken, noting that al-Qaida and other groups have found inspiration to attack for more than a decade. "My judgment is, if we weren't in Iraq, they'd find some other excuse, because they have ambitions," the president
said.
"But Sen. Joe Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday that Bush has allowed Iraq to fester as a training ground for terrorists, and U.S. voters are worried about it."
Here's a link to a story about the president refusing to release the full intelligence report.
Comments
Why don't we just fax the report right to Osama Bin Laden? I mean, have we lost our minds? Is there no value at all in keeping terrorist in Iraq? What is WRONG with them all going to Iraq to be killed instead of killing us here?
Posted by: Michael Der Manouel, Jr. | September 27, 2006 12:02 PM
So what you're saying, Mr. Der Manouel, is that our troops in Iraq are serving as decoys to draw out the terrorists so we can kill them?
Posted by: Mike D. | September 27, 2006 2:20 PM
We are not decoys. We are killing them at a rate of over 75 to 1 measured against our casualties, and if you want that war going on here, let's just pull out now and send over all of our intelligence to the terrorists. The leakers of this report should be tried for high treason and sentenced appropriately.
Posted by: Michael Der Manouel, Jr. | September 27, 2006 3:02 PM
The fact that we're killing more of them doesn't mean they're not decoys. (Where you get those numbers is anybody's guess.) The fact remains that, by your own argument, we're putting our troops over there to get shot at and blown up to keep the terrorists from shooting at us and blowing us up over here. And hopefully to kill the terrorists faster than we make more of them, which doesn't seem to be happening - measuring success by "body counts" didn't work in Vietnam, and doesn't seem to be working in Iraq.
And your complaint about the leakers seems a little silly. Do the terrorists need an intelligence report to tell them how important Iraq is to them?
Posted by: Mike D. | September 27, 2006 3:37 PM
The idea that terrorist having access to our intelligence reports, which is just an evaluation of how badly the war is going SO FAR, being of any use to them is highly overrated.
I can just see it now...
"Rajnish, wait while I open up Acrobat Reader so I can read this report and we can plan our glorious jihad and impending death at the hands of the Great Satan."
Then they get the typical blue screen of death normally associated with Microsoft products.
"Goodness, why did I run Windows Update. It ALWAYS gives me errors when I do that..."
Come one...We in a war we NEVER should have started in the first place. We could have embargoed / quarantined that country to death, before resorting to a war that's cost thousands of lives, on BOTH sides.
It's not just a war between soldiers. Civilians have been killed on BOTH sides...
Certain Americans have a clear goal of global domination that can be reviewed at www.newamericancentury.org.
The situation in Iraq is strategic. It has oil, key to the US in terms of fuel.
The same is true of about 6 other mideastern nations, but I don't want to even think what kind of crazy Khan logic Bush will have to end up justifying war in those countries.
Posted by: Sean Dorman | September 28, 2006 8:10 AM