Intelligence report blow to Bush's war on terror
Pastor Dale Morgan
Intelligence report blow to Bush's war on terror*
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday September 27, 2006
The Guardian
George Bush yesterday suffered a blow to his argument that the removal
of Saddam Hussein had made Americans safer after he ordered the release
of an intelligence report warning the war in Iraq had become a "cause
celebre for jihadists".
Mr Bush's decision to declassify a small portion of a leaked National
Intelligence Estimate, six weeks before the midterm elections, was seen
as an attempt to get in front of Democratic critics, led by Bill
Clinton, who accuse the administration of not doing enough to catch
Osama bin Laden.
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After five years of relative civility, the unspoken entente cordiale
between the Bush and Clinton administrations to avoid assigning blame
for the 9/11 attacks came to an abrupt end yesterday, with both leaders
and their aides fighting for their respective legacies. But Mr Bush's
"war on terror" narrative was contradicted by the report.
"The Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and
operatives; perceived jihadist success [in Iraq] would inspire more
fighters to continue the struggle elsewhere," it said.
"The Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists,
breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world. If
this trend continues, threats to US interests at home and abroad will
become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide."
The report, reflecting a consensus of 16 intelligence agencies,
acknowledged some US success in disrupting al-Qaida. But it said these
gains were outweighed by other factors, fuelling al-Qaida's spread:
anger at corrupt Muslim regimes, anti-US sentiment, and a decentralised
leadership that made it harder to penetrate.
It also predicted further attacks in Europe as "extremist networks
inside the extensive Muslim diasporas in Europe facilitate recruitment
and staging".
The damaging assessment was expected to intensify the struggle to
apportion blame in the war on terror in the run-up to November
congressional elections.
Democrats have been energised by the row with strategist James Carville
saying the party had gained a "spinal implant".
An informal truce between Republicans and Democrats began unravelling
this month when an ABC docu-drama portrayed Clinton-era officials as
being unconcerned about al-Qaida.
Democrats denounced the programme, forcing the network to make changes,
but Mr Clinton reserved his full wrath for last weekend when he told Fox
television he had done more than Mr Bush to try to kill Bin Laden.
"That's the difference in me and some, including all of the
right-wingers who are attacking me now," he said. "They ridiculed me for
trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try."
Allies on both sides have since waded in. In New York, secretary of
state, Condoleezza Rice, accused the Clinton administration of failing
to leave a plan for fighting al-Qaida. But a few blocks away from the
White House Ms Rice's Clinton-era predecessor, Madeleine Albright, was
accusing Mr Bush of adopting damaging policies because of his strong
beliefs.
"If certainties such as the war in Iraq and the axis of evil are based
on a religious belief that God is on our side - versus we should be on
God's side as Lincoln said - then certitude creates foreign policy
problems," Ms Albright said.