After Leak to Press, Bush Declassifies Part of NIE

By: E&P Staff After parts were leaked to The New York Times last week, the Bush administration late today released portions of a classified intelligence estimate.

As suggested in the leaks, it says that the Iraq war may be doing more harm than good in halting terrorism.

The global jihadist movement, as the Washington Post summarizes the report,"is growing and being fueled by the war in Iraq even as it becomes more decentralized, making it harder to identify potential terrorists and prevent future attacks. The war in Iraq has become a 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and drawing new adherents to the movement, the assessment says."

At a press conference earlier today, Bush said he would reluctantly release part of the lengthy document, while denouncing the leaks. Democrats called on him to declassify the entire report and not cherrypick sections.

The document reflects the collective judgment of the nation's 16 intelligence agencies.

The New York Times summary includes this: "The excerpts from the intelligence report pointed to a spread of terrorist activity globally for at least the next five years and said terrorists were adapting to the tactics used against them. 'If this trend continues, threats to U.S. interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide,' they said. 'Jihadists, although a small percentage of Muslims, are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion,' said the excerpted document.

In one detail, it states that terrorists now with experience constructing roadside bombs and other deadly devices in Iraq "are a potential source" of leadership for attacks elsewhere.

The president said today that it is "naive" for people to think that going into Iraq was a mistake. However, every national poll shows that most Americans -- in some cases, 6 in 10 -- now call the invasion a mistake.

"With such a devastating and authoritative analysis of the Bush Administration's failures in Iraq, the President and the Republican-controlled Congress now have a choice to make," Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid, said of the report. "Will they stubbornly follow a failed stay the course strategy that America's intelligence community has concluded makes America less safe, or will they finally admit their mistakes and change course?"