By gosh grinning mimby has never been one to paint a gloomy picture has he? Anyway, thanks for that. It would have made more gratifying somehow if he had said that he miscalculated what the situation in Iraq “and” Afghanistan would be (despite what his own experts advised and the lessons of history foreshadowed) thereby leading to the sensless death of thousand of Iraqis and young Americans, civil war and the spread of al Qaeda into Iraq, increased heroin production in Afghanistan, an explosion in Islamic extremist sentiments worldwide and a major loss of face for America in the world community, but heck, any sign that the man recognizes any sort of fallability in himself at all is a good sign I’m sure. Perhaps the psychosis isn’t as deep as it appears. Maybe he just doesn’t like thinking and would have mentioned those things were his understanding of English grammar sufficient to allow the creation of such a long sentence. Maybe he is just plain dumb, or just plain lying. I really can’t say for sure and I’ve given the issue quite a bit of thought.
Anyway, here is what your senior level government experts have to say about it…
nytimes.com/2006/09/27/world … ?th&emc=th
[quote]WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — Portions of a National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism that the White House released under pressure on Tuesday said that Muslim jihadists were “increasing in both number and geographic dispersion” and that current trends could lead to increasing attacks around the globe.
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“You know, to suggest that if we weren’t in Iraq we would see a rosier scenario, with fewer extremists joining the radical movement, requires us to ignore 20 years of experience,” Mr. Bush said. He added: “My judgment is: The only way to protect this country is to stay on the offense.”
“The war in Iraq has made us less safe,” said Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee. Mr. Rockefeller said the judgments contained in the intelligence estimate “make it clear that the intelligence community — all 16 agencies — believe the war in Iraq has fueled terrorism.”
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The release of the findings added fuel to an intense political debate about the administration’s record in combating terrorism. Mr. Bush used the news conference to reassert his view that the Iraq war was not to blame for the growth of Islamic radicalism.
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He also attributed the disclosure of some of the assessment findings to what he said were government officials leaking classified information to “create confusion in the minds of the American people” weeks before an important Congressional election.
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The first article on the findings was published Sunday in The New York Times after more than five weeks of reporting. More than a dozen United States government officials and outside experts were interviewed for the article, including employees of several government agencies and both supporters and critics of the Bush administration.
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National intelligence estimates are the most authoritative documents that American intelligence agencies produce on a specific national security issue. They represent the consensus view of the 16 intelligence agencies in government, and are approved by John D. Negroponte, director of national intelligence. [/quote][/quote]
