Beware The NIE

TomPaine.com - Beware The NIE: "A rollicking controversy has developed over the leaked U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism, apparently the first comprehensive U.S. intelligence product on terrorism since the 1990s. So far, nearly all of the coverage—and the superheated political debate around it—has revolved around the NIE’s reported conclusion that the war in Iraq has inflamed anti-American passions in the Middle East and the Muslim world. Paraphrasing the NIE, and stating its conclusions in its own words, The New York Times , which broke the story on Sept. 24, reported that the war and the occupation of Iraq has “helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism” and adds that “the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.” The headline in the Times proclaimed: “Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat.”
That conclusion, that the war in Iraq is creating terrorists, was treated as manna from heaven by Democrats, and not surprisingly. At first glance, the NIE seems to drive a stake through the heart of President Bush’s central argument for the continuing war in Iraq—namely, that the war is making Americans safer. Ted Kennedy used a similarly grim metaphor, calling the NIE “the final nail in the coffin for President Bush’s phony argument about the Iraq war.”A rollicking controversy has developed over the leaked U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism, apparently the first comprehensive U.S. intelligence product on terrorism since the 1990s. So far, nearly all of the coverage—and the superheated political debate around it—has revolved around the NIE’s reported conclusion that the war in Iraq has inflamed anti-American passions in the Middle East and the Muslim world.