A leaked British intelligence document reportedly supports the findings of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate: that the war in Iraq has increased extremism. “Iraq has served to radicalize an already disillusioned youth, and al-Qaida has given them the will, intent, purpose and ideology to act,” the BBC quoted the document as saying. The document also accuses Pakistan’s intelligence agency of indirectly supporting terrorist groups including al-Qaida — a claim that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and a representative of Britain’s ministry of defense denied.
Meanwhile, Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with President Bush Wednesday night and pledged increased cooperation in fighting terrorism. The two neighboring leaders had been blaming each other for not doing enough to combat extremism and to find Osama bin Laden, who each thinks is hiding in the other’s country.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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26 Comments
How many more reports will it take for Bushies to concede that Iraq is a failed mess?
I don’t trust Pakistan or Afghanistan. I think both are playing both sides of the fence with us.
9/11! WE ARE WINNING! WMDs! 9/11! LAST THROES! DEAD-ENDERS! FIGHT THEM THERE OR HERE! 9/11! IT’S CLINTON’S FAULT! 9/11! MONICA! STAY THE COURSE!
According to NPR today, the cost of the Iraq war is $2 Billion a week. Up 20% from last year.
The cost of Afghanistan is $370 million a week.
At what point do we decide we can’t afford to be the Democracy crusaders GWB envisions us being?
And it should also be clear that they knew or should have known this quagmire would develop. They were all warned – numerous times.
http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/Declassified_NIE_Key_Judgments.pdf
I haven’t seen the link to the declassified report posted. The report, in case you haven’t seen it, is not exactly like the NYT or Mr. Brownlee have characterized it. For instance, looking at the 2nd page, right after the material the NYT quotes, is the following: “Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.”
So the report does indicate that Iraq has become a “cause celebre” for jihadists, but it also points out the importance of defeating them there. Then why didn’t the NYT mention the rest of the report? The answer is obvious and sad. The fact is that the NYT can no longer be quoted as a fair, reliable source. They have long since passed over the line to partisan hacks.
There are only a finite number of jihadists? Do they have internet acess? Don’t they know all they have to do is stay the course{jihadists}
The Army, with an active-duty force of 504,000, has been stretched by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. About 400,000 have done at least one tour of combat duty, and more than a third of those have been deployed twice. Commanders have increasingly complained of the strain, saying last week that sustaining current levels will require more help from the National Guard and Reserve or an increase in the active-duty force.
Schoomaker first raised alarms with Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in June after he received new Army budget outlines from Rumsfeld’s office. Those outlines called for an Army budget of about $114 billion, a $2-billion cut from previous guidelines. The cuts would grow to $7 billion a year after six years, the senior Army official said.http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0925-08.htm
outlander – you make a point but a weak one. Obviously we don’t want to end up with abject failure in Iraq. THAT IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO CHANGE THIS FAILED COURSE!
“They have long since passed over the line to partisan hacks.”
Is it just me, or do others think that those who yell “hackery” the most, are themselves most guilty of this “crime”.
When Freud wrote about projection, he demonstrated what an excellent observer of human nature he was. His theory is pretty strange fiction, but it is hard to argue with his observations.
Whaddaya think? Is it time to reinstate the draft? Oh, not for military — for the Peace Corps.
Duh. I knew this a year ago and didn’t need classified intelligence to come to that conclusion.
So is this what George W. meant by being a uniter not a divider? He tries so hard to unite two warring countries across the globe but his own country he will let divided further into two camps until our country falls just like that divided house.
Bush needs to concentrate on America and our needs. Stop trying to police the world – he is no good at it.
Outie, the bottom line is that the report says we are creating (by staying the course in Iraq)terrorists at a much faster rate than we can kill or capture them.Of course, you can draw your own conclusions to that, I’m sure.
Articles like this are everywhere,this one is from India
http://www.countercurrents.org/iraq-lobe270906.htm
With the war even less popular now than it was then, any major new call-up is likely to trigger renewed protests, particularly in light of the growing sense both among the national security elites and the general population that the administration’s decision to invade Iraq was a major mistake and that the war is unwinnable.
Recent public opinion polls have shown that the public has become increasingly pessimistic about the war’s outcome and its impact on the larger “global war on terror”.
Earlier this month, for example, a New York Times/CBS poll found that nearly two-thirds of respondents believed the war in Iraq was going either “somewhat” (28 percent) or “very badly” (33 percent).
Steven – you are 100% correct. The partisan hacks are the ones who would have us continue down this failed course of action.
Is this why Hank loves his Heroine Ann? “Soldiers are just cowards with their backs against the wall. The lowest IQ men in our society, those incapable of normal careers enlist. Their choice in life; prison or the military. Some will have to die in the support of our cause.”
Ann Coulter – Intervention Magazine 11/06/03Shows what contempt the wealthy repugs. have for the peons.
I said Hank, where I meant Nathan.
British Intelligence STILL says that Saddam’s agents tried to by Yellow Cake Uranium in Niger, Africa.You liberals discount British Intellegence on that point but accept anything that hurts Bush?
steve – Ann is even more cynical than I thought!
EVERYTHING IS GOING G-R-E-A-T IN IRAQ!
WE ARE WINNING!
FREEDOM’S ON THE MARCH!
TERRORISTS ARE ON THE RUN!
GLORIOUS VICTORY IS AT HAND!
STAY THE COURSE!
DON’T CUT AND RUN ™
WE’RE LIBERATORS!
DEMOCRACY IS SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST!
LIBERALS HATE AMERIKA!
(Hmm, did I leave anything out…oh yeah!)
THE PRESS AND THE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES ARE LYING TO YOU! EVEN THOUGH WHAT YOU SEE MIGHT LOOK LIKE ACTUAL FOOTAGE AND EVIDENCE OF CARNAGE, MAYHEM, AND HORRIFYING VIOLENCE, IT’S REALLY JUST A PLOY BY THE DAMN LIBERAL MEDIA TO BRING DOWN OUR GLORIOUS LEADER, OUR DEAR PRESIDENT! IT’S A FRAUD PERPETRATED BY AMERIKA-HATING LIBERALS, QUEERS, MUSLIMS, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, UNWED MOTHERS, ATHEISTS, AND OTHER ENEMIES OF AMERIKA TO BREAK OUR STEEL RESOLVE AND UNSHAKEABLE WILL! DON’T BUY IT! MOST IMPORTANTLY
LISTEN
TO,
AND
ACCEPT,
WHAT
YOUR
GLORIOUS
GOVERNMENT
SAYS!!!!!
Sincerely, Nathan F. Williams
Support Our TroopsDo all you can to ensure Congress provides our troops the 2.7% pay raise passed by the House rather than capping them at the 2.2% passed by the Senate.
Wartime — when many of our servicemembers are going to Iraq for their third tour since 9/11 — is the wrong time to skimp on the military pay raise. Congress will be sending the wrong message to the troops who are sacrificing so much for the rest of us if it tries to save a few dollars byshaving a half percentage point off their pay raise.
Military pay still lags comparability with private sector pay by 4.5%, and it’s essential for long-term retention and readiness to continue makingprogress to restore comparaibility.
Ironically, congressional appropriations committees have already appropriated funds for a 2.7% raise for federal civilians….while capping military funding at 2.2%. We need to do better by our troops. The countrycan afford an extra half-percent raise for all who serve and sacrifice in the Global War on Terrorism – military and federal civilians alike.
Many may wonder, how will we pay for this increase if the Appropriationsbill has only passed the 2.2% increase? Every year DoD submits asupplemental budget request. In their supplemental Congress can ask foradditional funds to help pay for the .5% increase.
I’m urging you to make sure congress provides the troops a 2.7% pay raise.It is a very small way that you can show your support for our soldiers, sailors and airmen.
Use this URL to take action now:
http://capwiz.com/moaa/utr/2/?a=8897696&i=8579461&c=
… and ask all your friends nationwide to do the same. …
Shooting a cannon ball into a swimming pool doesn’t destroy the water, it only spreads it everywhere. It’s the same for the war on terror. Bush has done more to encourage terrorism than Osama ever dreamed of.
British intelligence says Saddam was trying to buy yellow cake? Nice Paul. You place more merit on foreign intelligence than your very own CIA. Who sent a person to investigate the claims and found they were baseless.
If bush was a surgeon, and Al-Quida a malignant tumor, they his instrument of choice was not a scalpel or radiation therapy, but a hammer!
Nathan appears to have way too much time on his hands.
Reality has a well-known liberal bias . . .
Was Saddam trying to buy Frosted yellow cake, or just plain old yellow cake? Either would be very difficult to disprove!The Britt’s memo will be ignored like the downing street memo.