Intel Report: Iraq Challenges "Daunting"
NIE: Inadequate Iraqi Forces, Sectarian Fighting Makes Situation Tough To Improve
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An American Apache helicopter provides air support as a U.S. Marine takes aim after being fired upon by insurgents near the Euphrates River February 2, 2007 in Ramadi , Anbar Pronvince, Iraq. (Getty Images)
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An Iraqi injured in Thursday's suicide bomber attack is wheeled in a hospital in Hillah, a city about 60 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 2, 2007. A pair of suicide bombers detonated explosives Thursday among shoppers in a crowded outdoor market in Hillah, killing at least 73 people and wounding 163. (AP Photo)
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People clean up after a car bomb blast in a predominantly Shiite area in eastern Baghdad, Jan. 31, 2007. At least one person was killed and six were wounded in the blast. (AP)
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A man wounded in a car bomb blast in predominantly Shiite area in eastern Baghdad waits for treatment in al-Kindi Hospital on Jan. 31, 2007. At least one person was killed and six were wounded in the blast. (AP Photo/Ali Abed)
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Months in the making, the collaborative assessment by 16 spy agencies says that growing and entrenched polarization between Shia and Sunni Muslims, inadequate Iraqi security forces, weak leaders, and the success of extremists' efforts to use violence to exacerbate the sectarian war all create a situation that will be difficult to improve.
The report, which is called a National Intelligence Estimate, or NIE, says the problem is not just a civil war. Rather, Iraq is spiraling toward implosion, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
“The NIE does a very nice job of making clear the trajectory that Iraq is on,” says former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollard. “And that trajectory is straight down.”
"We think it is accurate," Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said in a briefing on the document, called a National Intelligence Estimate. "We would emphasize the ‘hard-pressed,' because we will be pressing them hard and the Iraqi people will be pressing the government hard."
Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said it "demonstrates that the situation in Iraq is indeed dire and deteriorating. It saddens me that the pessimistic impressions I gained during my recent trip to Iraq are reinforced by the conclusions of the latest NIE."
The report said that "even if violence is diminished, given the current winner-take-all attitude and sectarian animosities infecting the political scene, Iraqi leaders will be hard-pressed to achieve sustained political reconciliation" any time soon.
It used much the same language about the prospects for Iraqi security forces, saying that despite recent improvements, they too "will be hard-pressed in the next 12-18 months to execute significantly increased security responsibilities" and take on Shiite militias.
In other developments:
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 287 CommentsTalking about stating the obvious! Sectarian strife will never end in Iraq. It will degenerate into secular states regardless of how many warriors and how much treasure we waste.
Continued investment of both will only temporarily stave of a foregone conclusion.
Unless a new dictator forces everyone together. Get rid of one Sadaam, another will just pop up in his place.
Really?
No $H!T Sherlock!
Well, I spent a year there as part of the original invasion force and I can tell you we NEVER had any control in Iraq.
Spending lives, spending money, buying votes.
Well, DUH!
Like the majority of the country hasn't figured that out yet.
Now it's time for GeorgenDick and the rest of the Rovettes to get it too.
Posted by luvNY at 08:47 AM : Feb 02, 2007
I disagree a might, luv, with your assessment. They value life, in my opinion, much as we do. The problem is their intolerance with each other's religious beliefs.
Tito had a similar situation in the former Yugoslavia. He kept it cobbled together though an iron-fisted dictatorship. When he died, Yugoslavia disentegrated.
Planning to topple Hussein was a strategy that was guaranteed to produce the exact same results in Iraq.
Whoever formulated this boondoggle was not a history buff, to say the least.
What disgusts me is that Dubya was able to snare so many of your votes last time. Some of you have started to wake up, while some won't grasp the truth so obviously thrust in front of them, as it will mean admitting they and the GOP might have made a mistake. Worse, it may mean their candidates didn't really have the best interest of the country in mind.
I didn't vote for the man in either election. Why? I found his demeanor arrogant, condescending, and patriarchal.
He speaks with a smirk (the tone of his voice is even irritating) and he lies with his eyes.
It was a gut feeling for me at the time, but as Ann Landers always said, if it smells fishy, it probably is. Now it really stinks!
Agreed. I would add that it has been historically difficult for America to admit its mistakes. I think this is why it has taken so long for a consensus to build regarding Iraq.
American's are conditioned to think that we know better than anyone, do everything better, that we are destined to run the planet.
This ridiculous mindset makes admitting errors that much more difficult and makes correction that much more prolonged.
This same national superiority complex is what the neocons cashed in on. They had an audience ready and willing to believe that we were entirely justified in invading a sovereign country and installing the politcal system for them that we thought best.
That just about does it for W, don't it? Now he'll sink his claws into the economy and NCLB and pray that their underbellies aren't exposed too.
I haven't seen any of lieberman18's rants the past couple of days. Have you?
Posted by migrainegram at 09:14 AM : Feb 02, 2007
I think I gave him a migraine last time out. lol
Think someone turned him in?
Posted by Zoroastor at 09:20 AM : Feb 02, 2007
Facts, logic, and common sense have never impeded lieberman in the past.......
He can't argue (debate) anything without insults and comments leaving little to the imagination.
My guess is someone became highly offended and finally got someone at CBS to read this stuff.
Ya', think?
Posted by migrainegram at 09:16 AM : Feb 02, 2007
He certainly deserved to be reported. I didn't report him because I enjoy spanking his silly a$$ so much.
I know that others have threatened to do so in the past. jimibear maybe?
exusmcsgt, was it my imagination, or was the fact that I was prior military arguing for the other side some sort of lighting rod for that guy or what?
In other words, somehow the rightwing nuts will blame someone other than the morons in the White House for this disaster.
Posted by exusmcsgt at 09:25 AM : Feb 02, 2007
Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to say because he tended to go off the deep end on occasion. What happens when the moderator or hire ups cut one of us off? Are our email addresses blocked or what?
exusmcsgt, Zororaster, etc:
I mentioned this yesterday, butI thought it was appropriate to mention it again because of the findings of the NIE.
I suggest everyone google "washingtonnote" and check out the link about the third story down that takes you to the text of Zbigniew Brzezinski%u2019s testimony to the Senate Foreign relations Committee yesterday.
He laid out the very logical and compelling reasons for why we should be getting out of Iraq and how to do it. Staying there is lighting the fuse for a much larger crisis in the region.
Deep end MOST of the time!
exusmcsgt, was it my imagination, or was the fact that I was prior military arguing for the other side some sort of lighting rod for that guy or what?
Posted by Zoroastor at 09:27 AM : Feb 02, 2007
Lieberman is a reserve reject. He has a hard on for anyone who's been there, done it. It's pure envy in regards to former military with him.
I suspect something. You know why they all don't seem the least bit worried that the administration is nearing its end? Late in '08 they are going to unveil the plan to install the first American ***-Tater-Ship.
Posted by migrainegram at 09:28 AM : Feb 02, 2007
I would assume that the account is deactivated. But there's nothing to stop them from setting up another account under a different name.
Posted by Zoroastor at 09:32 AM : Feb 02, 2007
Where have you been for the last 6 years, bro?
AND
the "war on drugs" is costing tax payers BILLIONS.
IF
marijuana becomes legalized
THEN
terrorists will have one less source of income.
a href="http://2008winner.com" 2008 WINNER /a
HTTP://2008WINNER.COM
SAVE THE TAXPAYERS BILLIONS
BY LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
FOR ADULTS 21 AND OVE
AND TAXING IT.
END THE "WAR ON DRUGS".
THE "WAR ON DRUGS" IS JUST AS MUCH OF A FAILURE
AS THE "WAR ON IRAQ".
They could block the IP address, but if it's a DHCP address, sometimes they change when the lease renews and that sort of blocking doesn't work.
But based on the stuff they allow here, which is pretty much anything, even if they cut someone off, I doubt they are too concerned at keeping them out. They may do it just as a speedbump kind of thing, to annoy someone that they have to re-register with a new name.
Shut up about the dope already and go hit your bong.
Hey, maybe that's where Lieberman18 has been. He's being prepped for the Ministry of Propiganda, uh... I mean Marketing.
Posted by Rafterman1 at 09:38 AM : Feb 02, 2007
That is what I perceive. It appears to me that some have multiple accounts.
Hey, maybe that's where Lieberman18 has been. He's being prepped for the Ministry of Propiganda, uh... I mean Marketing.
Posted by Zoroastor at 09:39 AM : Feb 02, 2007
You know what "signing statements" are, bro?
Announcement from the White House on October 31st 2008: "Due to unspecified security threats, the election has been postponed until Dear Leader, er, the President has "decider-ed" that it is safe to proceed. Or until he dies in 20 years or so. Whichever comes last. Then the Bush twins will take over."
Posted by skyk at 09:44 AM : Feb 02, 2007
Anyone with an understanding of military strategy knew from the outset that this could never work.
I refer to the fact that a standing army can never defeat a competent guerilla force that has the support of the local populace. It makes no difference how much conventionl force is brout to bear.
Colombia and the Phillipines have been failing for fourty years to defeat their guerillas.
Guatemala failed for 36 years and then sat down to the peace table.
We failed for 20 years in Viet Nam and then sat down to the peace table.
The USSR failed at it for 12 years in Afghanista and then packed up and went home.
It just can not work. Period.
Cheney? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
The only thing worse than an incompetent dictator is a compentent one.
This is their conclusion, but still can't say that it is a civil war?? What is wrong with these stupid people??
This surge isn't going to stabilize Baghdad and Iraqi politicians aren't capable of controlling the violence anymore than the US troops can. It is perfectly obvious that nothing is going to improve the violence.
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW BEFORE MORE DEATHS!
doing well thanks, especially now that I have been so enlightened by this report. lol
Speaking of email, a gal serving in Iraq picked it up when I gave it to you yeaterday and sent me a very lengthy email late last night.
Totally disenheartened with the whole situation. A real heartbreaker, bro.
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