The very fact that Bush has released only 3 of 30 pages of the NIE suggests to the cynical that he is at it again, cherrypicking intelligence to bolster his case that the War on Terror has made real progress, and in the words of Negroponte, America has been made more safe today. If these 3 pages are the cherries, then I tremble to ponder what awful findings lie within the unreleased portions of the estimate.A brief review of Bush's "cherries", -verbatim:
1. "the global jihadist movement...is spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts:"
2. " jihadists...are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion...leading to increasing attacks worldwide...[and the ]confluence of shared purpose and dispersed actors will make it harder to find and undermine jihadist groups";
3. "The Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists...cultivating supporters";and
4. "Other affiliated Sunni extremist organizations, such as Jemaah Islamiya, Ansar al- Sunnah, and several North African groups, unless countered, are likely to expand their reach and become more capable of multiple and/or mass-casualty attacks outside their traditional areas of operation."
All of this has been proferred as disproof of the NYT's wild-eyed notion that terrorism has increased due to the War. One then wonders what planet the Bush Mafia is presently on, and more significantly, what language it purports to speak, -for English it cannot be.
A further cause for depression lies with a further Bush Cherry, -in keeping with the neocon standard operating procedure. The NIE helpfully suggests that one factor that may hopefully arrest the spread of the "jihadist movement" is " the emergence of respected voices of moderation." But in discussing the now late al-Zarqawi, it notes that if he should moderate his tactics, i.e. "scale back attacks against Muslims" and thus "broaden his popular appeal", he would "present a global threat." Wonderful strategy, kill the moderates.
And so, what is the good news Bush wishes all of us to share from the NIE to counter the downright treasonous musings of the NYT and its take on the Iraq War:
"We assess that the underlying factors fueling the spread of the movement outweigh its vulnerabilities and are likely to do so for the duration of the timeframe of this Estimate."
If that's a cherry, the rest is bound to be pure poison.
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posted 26 September 2006 05:42 PM
