Bush To Declassify Portions Of Leaked National Intelligence Estimate

  •  September 26, 2006

This is the right thing to do, though I find the bolded statement a bit odd:

President Bush on Tuesday said it is naive and a mistake to think that the war with Iraq has worsened terrorism, disputing a national intelligence assessment by his own administration. He said he was declassifying part of the report.
“Some people have guessed what’s in the report and concluded that going into Iraq was a mistake. I strongly disagree,” Bush said.

I don’t think the President is necessarily disputing the NIE, I think he’s disputing the way the media and his political opponents have characterized the NIE. The President is arguing that the bits of the NIE that the media is describing for the public are not indicative of the overall tone of the report. That certainly doesn’t mean he’s disputing the report as a whole.

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  • http://Array Bat One

    Rodney,

    “Frog Marched.” What a perfectly descriptive phrase! Wherever did do find something so apt?

  • Bat One

    Rodney,

    Isn’t it every bit as satisfying not to have to annotate your sarcasm, secure in the knowledge that your intended audience is bright enough not to need coaching?

    Enjoy!

  • carrick

    It’s been released.

    The right move. What will the lefties bitch about next?

  • Mable

    It’s interesting that the comments here on the NIE say nothing about the real issue. Has the invasion of Iraq really made the world less safe by offering al Qaeda and jihadists in general a cause celèbre to rally around, as claimed by the report? In other words, was it a mistake? Or will our intervention in Iraq make the world safer by helping to spread democracy? And, as such, does it represent an important building block towards a safer world in the future, despite the politically motivated negative aspects that opponents are so eager to point out? In other words was it a good move?

  • robert108

    Mable: The only way to make that evaluation(if you must) is to compare it to what would be happening if we hadn’t gone into Iraq. Saddam murdering, dismembering, torturing(real torture) his citizens, the continuing bribery of Europe and the UN through the “oil for food” program, ramping his WMD programs back up after the lifting of sanctions with the aforementioned bribery, continuing conflict with Iran, possibly nuclear in nature, and the financing and arming of terrorists all over the world. What do you think?

  • Mable

    Robert108 :

    It’s not an easy question. While I agree with you with regard to Saddam’s human rights abuses, corruption as in the case of the Oil-for-Food program, and the potential for misuse of WMD, I think the most compelling justification for our action in Iraq should be the building of democracies as an alternative to dictatorships in general, and to those founded on theocratic fanaticism in particular. However, I don’t think we will ever be able to accomplish this militarily. We have got to defeat those elements of Islam that are not representative of that faith as a whole by exposing them as a violent, minority, and by making clear to the majority that we harbor no ill will towards them. Thus far, we have been making progress in Iraq, as demonstrated by peaceful elections in that country, as well as in Afghanistan, as Afghan president Hamid Karzai recently noted. Hopefully, we will be able to continue these advances in the region. Maybe we could start by initiating a diplomatic dialog with Iran, instead of waving a fist at them. What is more important, threatening Iran about a nuclear development program that may not really be a menace, or enhancing our image as a peaceful, negotiating friend of Islam anxious to resolve our differences on the basis of mutual respect?. This would help to undermine the arguments of terrorists claiming that American is at war with Islam. All of this, of course, in my humble opinion

  • http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

    Rob,

    I’d far rather see the leakers and publishers thereof “frog marched” out of their offices. I’d prefer even more to see them prosecuted and convicted.

    Out Here
    Rodney Graves
    rodney.g.graves@gmail.com

  • http://www.dartemis.net/blog/ sayanything-42

    Bat One,

    Few things in online life are as satisfying as re-using the sinistrosphere’s sound bites against them, and then waiting for them to complain that the shoe pinches when applied to their own foot.

    Out Here
    Rodney Graves
    rodney.g.graves@gmail.com

  • http://sayanythingblog.com robport

    For all interested, I just posted on the released report on the main page.

    From my reading, it certainly isn’t what the media/Democrats told us it was.

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