Politico: New Iraq report to warn of attack

[ProSense]

New Iraq report to warn of attack

By: Mike Allen
Aug 11, 2007 08:17 PM EST

The Bush administration is finishing a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq that paints a sobering picture of a mature civil war unlikely to be snuffed out through political progress, according to officials involved in the report’s preparation.

A late draft of the document warns of the possibility of a spectacular attack in conjunction with a crucial mid-September assessment by Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Iraq.

With the Petraeus-Crocker report looming, some administration officials say they fear a coordinated onslaught like the Tet offensive, a surprise country-wide series of attacks that produced a psychological victory for Vietnamese Communists in 1968.

“We’re concerned about the desire of Al Qaeda to undertake some Tet offensive-style attack in conjunction with the Petraeus report to influence political opinion to the extent that people would lose their stomach for the fight,” one of the officials said.

Gordon Johndroe, National Security Council spokesman and deputy White House press secretary for foreign affairs, said: "The NIE, an update to the one from February 2nd, will likely offer a picture of the current successes as well as the remaining challenges we face in Iraq, and, like the previous NIE on Iraq, the consequences of pursuing different courses of action."

An NIE from January, called “Prospects for Iraq’s Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead,” provided what outside analysts called a brutal assessment. Key judgments released Feb. 2 pointed to “an increase in communal and insurgent violence and political extremism.”

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, however, told reporters in a briefing then that the NIE did “suggest that we can succeed with the right policies, and we think we've developed the right policy, the right strategy, the right approach.”

more

(emphasis added)

Doesn't matter where this is coming from (Politico), the Bush admin is ready to strike fear into the heart of Americans.

Bush admin: "There is no military solution to Iraq." Scratch that, "We can succeed with the right policies."


On edit: How many times and for how long did the Bush admin deny that Iraq was in a civil war? Now, when it's convenient to further their evil agenda, they're willing to admit that it's a mature civil war!

"(T)his is not just a civil war -- by historical standards, it's a relatively large scale civil war."

[blogslut]

F.T.P.

Anyone want to guess what the letters stand for? O8)

[alfredo]

2. Fuck the Pope?

[blogslut]

5. file transfer protocol, silly

;)

[alfredo]

12. How soon I forget. Stop using the command line and the mind

starts to atrophy.

[alfredo]

1. From what I understand, there are not enough al Qaeda there to do

much beyond what they may already be doing.

[fedupinBushcountry]

3. This is freaking insane

They need to be stopped.

[blogslut]

4. You are correct

The ratcheting will come. Just the same, F.T.P. :)

[rodeodance]

6. a mature civil war??- gee, the WH will not even call it a toddle civil war yet!

[KharmaTrain]

7. The Tet Moment Is At Hand...

Any "lull" at this point is the quiet before another storm. Our military no longer dictates what's happening on the ground, they're reacting to it. They're fighting not to lose more ground...and the quiet some think it "progress" may just be various militias loading up before the violence is kicked up to the next level. We also heard about how "progress" was being made in Vietnam in 1967.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

8. Yes,

the surge.

MKJ

[tularetom]

9. It passed civil war long ago - it's now anarchy

We have totally lost control of the situation. And we'll never regain it even if we put a million troops there.

The USSR fell apart partly because its ill advised war in Afghanistan consumed its resources and broke it. We may be seeing a reprise of that situation in Iraq.

[ProSense]

10. Kick! n/t

[VP505]

11. So they will call it

the Petraeus-Crocker Report? More accurately it ought to be called the Petraeus-Crock 'O' Shit Report!

[BlooInBloo]

13. The DU love affair with Drudge continues unimpeded.

[ProSense]

14. What the hell are you talking about? n/t

[BlooInBloo]

16. Common-knowledge links.

http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q=drudge+politico+glen+greenwald&btnG=Google+Search&num=100

[seemslikeadream]

15. It's Mike Allen

not Drudge :shrug:

[BlooInBloo]

17. Sheesh.

[beachmom]

18. Yeah, but a Mike Allen piece gives us an idea of exactly what the

WH is doing -- he is after all, just a stenographer for them.

[beachmom]

19. Really? I have read before that neither a military OR a political solution

is likely, and that was from the last NIE. Americans aren't going to be scared by a Tet Offensive like attack. More, likely they'll be PISSED and demand louder than ever that we get our troops out of this quagmire.