CIA Report on security in Iraq : Will Get Worse

[Cyrus]

That Agency better get with the program real soon -- and start producing some nice Reports for a change.

CNN.com news item

[MMMMMM]

Obviously we need to more aggressively pursue and kill Saddam loyalists in and around Tikrit. We need to play more offense: lock down Tikrit, impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew, conduct house-to-house searches, disarm the populace in the Sunni Triangle; and give Assad one last warning to stop the flow of foreign fighters over the Syriasn border or else. He could put his military on border patrol if he wishes. If he doesn't, it will be time to blow away all the terror training camps in Syria and Lebanon. High noon is fast approaching for Syria.

[andyfox]

Obviously, that Rumsfeld sure is a wimp. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[adios]

As long as the info backs up the party line it's credible I suppose.

[Chris Alger]

"lock down Tikrit"

Lock them up until they learn to appreciate the meaning of "liberation."

[ACPlayer]

... and if they dont kill them or capture them and bring them up on charges at a special tribunal by 2010.

[ACPlayer]

One analysis:
A palpable sense of panic

[jokerswild]

I'm still expecting that the Admin will allow another attack here in order to re-elect the President.

[ACPlayer]

Another analysis worth reading:

PINR report on Iraq

The final three para are extracted here:

The continued inability to pacify Iraq reflects the larger problem faced by Washington of successfully interacting with Arab and Muslim societies. Facing countries with values quite contrary to the United States', Washington has failed to provide these societies with a desirable cultural model to follow. Attempts to do so have only enraged Muslim societies and have resulted in a major polarization between the interests of Washington and the interests of these societies.

In light of this, Vice President Dick Cheney's claim that "We are rolling back the terrorist threat at the very heart of its power in the Middle East" could not seem further from the truth. Subsequent surveys by various groups, such as the Pew Research Center, show that hatred toward the United States has been rapidly growing in almost all countries throughout the world, especially Arab and Muslim ones that feel that the "war on terror" is simply a "war on Islam."

This polarization will result in more attacks on U.S. interests abroad and possibly at home. Even individuals like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld are beginning to question official rhetoric; he admitted in his recent leaked memo that the United States "lack[s] the metrics to know whether we are winning or losing the global war on terror." Because America is too powerful for any state actor to attack, and because hatred for America is spreading across the planet, individuals in a position of relative weakness will use the most effective means of damaging U.S. interests: engaging in terrorist tactics.

[MMMMMM]

Just until we get the Saddam loyalist insurgents.