Here is another National Intelligence Estimate which paints a bleak picture of the current situation in Iraq. Skip to pages 7-10 for the specific report
National Intelligence Estimate Report of August 23, 2007
And, purely for its comic value, here is the Daily Standard's (i.e. the Bushie's view) of the same report and situation in Iraq.
Daily Standard Joke of the Week
What color is the sky in their world? More importantly, how many more of our armed forces have to die because an ever shrinking group of single minded incompetents can't admit when they are wrong?
4 comments:
Great. So now Bush is becoming more and more like my namesake everyday. He's not even listening to his own intelligence apparatus anymore?
Thanks for making my day with that bit of satirical fiction from the Daily Standard. Bill Kristol is a dolt-why are people still listening to him?
…looking out my window, the sky is a kind’ve hazy gray spotted w/ a handful of dark clouds.
I read the NIE and the Weekly Standard piece (albeit a bit quickly). Taking for granted that you and I look at the same sky and see different colors, what exactly in the Weekly Standard piece is particularly farcical? Specifically, I mean…
I found their reference to the metrics of success accurate. The NIE is purely negative only if your metrics for success are tied to your objective to withdraw. If your objective is to win, then other factors matter. Isn’t that a fair statement?
Basically, the WS is a joke because it calls the NIE weak. The reason they give for this is the "only reporting the bad news and not the good news" mantra which is insulting to the gravity of the situation there.
In other words, only look at the good and the bad is...well...let's pretend it's not there and say that anyone critical of it is being partisan/weak/looney/a communist. I exagerated a bit at the end there but you get my point.
I thought the NIE report was actually quite balanced, refuted many of the things I have said, and gave quite an accurate picture of what is happening on the ground in Iraq. I am sure Gen Patreus' report will say the same thing. At the end of the day, though, it's quite obvious (and should have been 40 years ago) that the United States Armed Forces suck ass at counterinsurgency.
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