Lacking Intelligence

If the White House thought that releasing four pages of an intelligence finding was going to be seen as a rebuttal to the claim that the war in Iraq has spawned more terrorism, they could have done a better job of cherry-picking what pages to release.

The report, a comprehensive assessment of terrorism produced in April by American intelligence agencies, said the invasion and occupation of Iraq had become a “cause célèbre” for jihadists. It identified the jihad in Iraq as one of four underlying factors fueling the spread of the Islamic radicalism, along with entrenched grievances, the slow pace of reform and pervasive anti-American sentiment.

The intelligence estimate said American-led counterterrorism efforts in the past five years had “seriously damaged the leadership of Al Qaeda and disrupted its operations.” But it said that Al Qaeda continued to pose the greatest threat to American interests among terrorism organizations, and that the global jihadist movement overall was “spreading and adapting to counterterrorism efforts.”

The estimate predicted that over the next five years the factors fueling the spread of global jihad were likely to be more powerful than those that might slow it.

If this is the part the White House wanted the world to see, then can you imagine what the parts they didn't release had to say?

The White House is pointing to the bit that says we have "seriously damaged the leadership of Al Qaeda" as testimony that we're making progress in the GWOT. Well, yeah, I'd hope so; I'd really hate to find out we spent all that money for a road company production of The Student Prince. That is hardly the point. Iraq was not a haven for jihadists until we made it one.

Oh, and the best part is this little bit of political insight from the president:

At a news conference on Tuesday where he announced the release of portions of the document, President Bush suggested forcefully that news reports in the past two days about the document had been based on politically motivated leaks.

Having the president complain that there might be a political motivation behind the leak is roughly akin to Rush Limbaugh accusing Keith Richards of having a drug problem. According to him, it's only politically motivated if the other guy does it.

It's getting to the point where you really have to wonder just how stupid these guys think the American citizenry -- and electorate -- really is.