The Latest Security Leak

I am looking forward to the imminent release of the full text of the latest leaked security assessment. I've already seen Bush putting enormous spin on what the leaked portions actually say, though having read them, I don't see what he sees to be honest.

The President states that people are saying that the report claims that his handling of the Iraq war has increased the threat of terrorist attacks to Americans. Unless he's reading a different report than appeared in the NY Times, that's not what I am seeing at all. What the released portion of the report are saying is that the administrations invasion of Iraq and then total mishandling of the war have increased the world-wide threat of terrorism. By extension that could be read to include the U.S. but it was not specifically saying just the U.S.

John Negroponte is quoted as saying that the report is a comprehensive assessment that highlights the importance of Iraq on the future of global jihadism. This sounds like a very accurate assessment from my point of view. The eventual outcome of the war in Iraq undoubtedly will have an enormous impact on the future of global terrorism.

What Mr. Negroponte and the President fail to acknowledge, however, is that this is true only because we invaded in the first place and then totally mishandled the war itself from that point onward, while stubbornly sticking to a plan that has proven itself to be an utter and abysmal failure. The Iraq war and the resulting insurgency are now the main focus and the main recruiting tools for the new generation of Islamic extremists. Virtually everyone acknowledges that this is true.

What is also true is that this focus would not exist had we not invaded Iraq or if we had invaded with a clear and workable plan to actually win the war once we were there. It was critical that the administration be sufficiently nimble to change directions once we were there and it became apparent that the flowers on the streets beneath our feet and the eternal fawning gratitude were not going to materialize. On this the administration has failed miserably. Stay the Course and We'll Stand Down When the Iraqis Stand Up are not war plans. They're political slogans.

So unless the full report contains something of significance beyond what we have already been shown, the press assessments are correct. Thanks to Bush's missteps and inability and will to actually win the war in Iraq, we have provided the world's terrorists with a focus for recruiting more jihadists because they have a perfect training ground in Iraq, complete with Americans to murder. It is a moot point as to whether that will eventually prove out to mean that there is an increased terror threat in the U.S. Europe and the rest of the world also count when it comes to assessing the international threat level.

Personally, my assessment is that if you give International terrorism a focus for recruitment, eventually you have also ensured that no matter how much you work to avoid it, there will one day be more major attacks here. I will read the report when it's released and comment on it here.