The last time the CIA produced a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, George W. Bush said the agency was "just guessing as to what conditions might be like" in the country. That was in 2004, and the Bush administration has been dragging its feet on a new NIE ever since. As Ken Silverstein reported for Harper's last July, John Negroponte had put the brakes on the production of a new NIE because he knew that "any honest take on the situation would produce an NIE even more pessimistic than the 2004 version" that Bush had rejected.Link.
But pray tell (or WTF) does this mean "Bush rejected"? How does one without direct knowledge "reject" research findings? I mean, you know, if policy was made on the basis of anything other than simple beliefs, shibboleths, prejudices, biases, etc. -- anything other than facts.
(Of course, we all know the solution is out there: the solution for an insurgency is to do as much as possible to deal with the bases, that is, what's getting the insurgents, or at least their supporters and sources of future insurgents pissed. Of course, in Iraq's case, the primary basis is tribal hatred and intolerance. That's a bitch to deal with, particularly with a weak mis-structured government but a "surge" is no solution to nothing.)
And my God, how quickly a weakened and scared GOP turns on its leaders from yesterday. Here -- massive flip-flopping from the paragons of principle, including our straight talking Next Leader.
And what our former Supreme Commander for All Things Iraq has to say for himself as he tries for the final pre-retirement post of Chief of Staff.
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