From CNN:
The Bush administration has sought to downplay the significance of a U.S. intelligence forecast painting a pessimistic picture for the future of Iraq, insisting that predictions of difficulties ahead -- including the possibility of civil war -- were not a surprise.These people are in MASSIVE DENIAL:
Sources have confirmed to CNN that a National Intelligence Estimate was sent to the White House in July with a classified warning predicting the best case for Iraq was "tenuous stability" and the worst case was civil war.
"I think that anybody that thinks that you can hold elections in the Sunni Triangle by the end of January is really smoking something," military historian Frank Fukuyama said.These people are in such denial that it boggles the mind to imagine a second administration. An "academic think piece"? Tell that to the mother of the dead American soldier arrested at Laura Bush's rally.
And the Pentagon also admits the insurgency in Iraq is growing in both size and sophistication, and as a result, the number of U.S. war dead -- now over 1,025 -- is climbing at a faster rate than any time since major combat ended.
Spokesman for the National Security Council, Scott McCormack, Thursday described the report as "more of an academic think piece" than a forecast.
