No Intelligence Estimate

So it seems that we have a new National Intelligence Estimate, a document that was created by an expensive and time-consuming process. A document that basically confirms what we all knew in Dec 2001 before we embarked on our insanely expensive mission in Iraq...

You can read the four page summary yourself, but it seems to confirm that many anti-war arguments were correct. The jihad extremists are decentralized; unbound from nationality and citizenship. The goals of jihad are untenable to every citizen on the planet. Iran and Syria are the main sponsors of Al Qaeda. Iraq would become a training ground for the next generation of terrorists if we invaded.

Basically, this NIE says that the anti-Iraq War crowd understood the reality of the situation. However, the document asserts that elements of the neocon 'vision' of Iraq could be correct. IF. If we can help create stable governments and economic parity in the region.

Unfortunately, Bush really doesn't have a plan for creating a stable government in Iraq or anywhere else. So we're stuck with this bleak reality-based assessment of global terror trends. Even worse, it ends with those bullet point.

We judge that groups of all stripes will increasingly use the Internet to communicate, propagandize, recruit, train, and obtain logistical and financial support.

I suspect the Bush Adminstration will read this report and decide that the best way to fight terror will depend on reducing our online freedom... Oh, a teensy, tiny little war in Iran that will totally pay for itself.