Everyone agrees the insurgency in Iraq is stronger than ever -- they're killing more people this year than last year and killed more people last year than the year before. But John Negroponte -- the intelligence czar -- tries to downplay that fact by narrowing his focus to the last few months and putting the least offensive spin on the facts that he can:
"Putting numbers on the size of the insurgency is probably a bit of a speculative business because nobody knows for sure. But I guess I'd say that based on what I've read and on my own knowledge of the situation in Iraq, that over the past several months I don't think the size or nature of the insurgency has changed appreciably."How many ways can we slice this? Saying the "size or nature" of the insurgency hasn't changed appreciably is another way of saying Bush is completely failing in his attempt to attack and weaken the insurgency. Negroponte could have said the insurgency is as strong as it's ever been, but Bush wouldn't have liked that.
One thing is clear: an intelligence czar who tries to downplay or bland out clear and accurate estimates of threats to a stable Iraq is not one that inspires confidence.
