US Spy Agencies: Bush policies have increased threat of terrorism
US spy agencies have dropped a political
bombshell six weeks before national elections, with the leak of a classified
report concluding that the war in Iraq has spawned a new wave of Islamic
radicalism and increased the global threat of terrorism.
US spy agencies have dropped a political bombshell six weeks before national elections, with the leak of a classified report concluding that the war in Iraq has spawned a new wave of Islamic radicalism and increased the global threat of terrorism.
The intelligence document on Sunday rocked a central pillar of the Republican Party’s campaign platform ahead of November elections: that the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ouster of Saddam Hussein made America safer, not weaker.
Such assertions were looking decidedly shaky Sunday after The New York Times and The Washington Post released details of the classified National Intelligence Estimate, the most comprehensive assessment yet of the war, based on analyses of all 16 of America’s intelligence agencies.
The report, Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States, says “the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse…”
“While the US has seriously damaged Al-Qaeda and disrupted its ability to carry out major operations since the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, it noted, radical Islamic networks have spread and decentralized.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist expressed confidence US voters would not be swayed by the intelligence report.
“I think the American people, when they read an article like that … say, ‘Listen, just keep me safe — I just want to be safe in Nashville, Tennessee, I want to be safe in Memphis, New York City, Washington, DC,’ that’s what they want.”
The White House says the leaked info “isn’t representative of the whole document”. Then, they shouldn’t have any problem with publishing the report for all of us to read and evaluate.
Right?
Posted: Mon - September 25, 2006 at 07:00 AM