Depths of Disaster

Knight Ridder reports on an intelligence estimate prepared in October 2003 showing that the Iraqi insurgency was indigenous, likely to strengthen and could lead to civil war. The intelligence estimate contradicts BushCheney’s assertion that the resistance was merely “dead-enders and Saddamists”, soon to be swept into the dustbin of history.

History’s dustbin may be filled these days with detritus from Iraq but the insurgency is not among the scraps. The dustbin is filled, rather, with BushCheney’s many, many lies, errors and omissions in Iraq. Unfortunately, that trash still plagues America and Iraq in the form of deadly violence and destruction.

From the article:

In Congress on Tuesday, Army Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testified that the insurgency "remains strong, and resilient." Maples said that while Iraqi terrorists and foreign fighters conduct some of the most spectacular attacks, disaffected Iraqi Sunnis make up the insurgency's core. "So long as Sunni Arabs are denied access to resources and lack a meaningful presence in government, they will continue to resort to violence," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Looking back to October2003, BushCheney’s failure to see reality in Iraq ignored the necessary tasks at had. Robert Hutchings, who chaired the committee that prepared the analysis, said that top political and military officials focused on ways of dealing with foreign jihadists and disaffected Saddam loyalists, rather than with other pressing problems, such as growing Iraqi anger at the U.S.-led occupation and the deteriorating economic and security situation.

The rest is history, the dismal reality of America’s bolloxed Iraq adventure in all of its grim and bloody glory.

Nothing here is surprising. America already knows the quality of BushCheney’s intelligence and interpretation from his insistence on weapons of mass destruction. More recently, the National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia wrote about administration “cherry picking” intelligence information to support their march to war. What amazes me is that this administration has ANY credibility at all or that there is any doubt that Republicans will go down in flames because of BushCheney’s wongheaded, disastrous policy in Iraq.

Remember, he’s been wrong before. America can count on him to be wrong again.