Thank god we have a president who doesn’t play rhetorical games with the American people. Take the recent leak of the classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a consensus document drafted in April of this year by lead analysts at U.S. intelligence agencies, which says that the War in Iraq is increasing the number of terrorists who want to wreak harm on the United States and its allies. President Bush says the leak was politically motivated and insists that the NIE does not assert that more terrorists have been created as a result of the Iraq War. To prove his point, he declassified a four-page section of the report that asserts that the number of terrorists is growing, partly as a result of the Iraq War.Here’s the declassified sections. Keep in mind that these are only the select sections that the Bush administration has chosen to reveal. Here’s the most poignant quote on Iraq:“The Iraq conflict has become the ‘cause celebre’ for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement. Should jihadists leaving Iraq perceive themselves, and be perceived, to have failed, we judge fewer fighters will be inspired to carry on the fight.”In a recent appearance with Afghani president Hamid Karzai, Bush accused his critics of being naive and looking at the situation through rose-tinted glasses. If anyone’s naive, it’s this administration. We’re losing this war. Badly. The only time Bush talks to us straight about the situation is when he says that if we pull out, we’re screwed. Hey, he’s right. Unfortunately, at this point, we’re screwed if we don’t pull out, too.
Mr. Straight Talker
2 min read
