Sometimes you just have to let an idiot hang himself.
As you all now know, George Bush made public the executive summary of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq late yesterday. Bush claimed that the NIE was going to exonerate him and show how peachy everything was in Iraq and in the war on terror. In fact, the document was horrifically pessimistic, and said just what the NYT said it said - namely, that Bush's quagmire in Iraq is fueling more terror and making us less safe.
The thing I can't fathom is what possessed Bush to make this document public AND to claim that it was going to be a really happy and peppy assessment. Granted, he may not have read the thing - it was, after all, a full three pages (and there were no pictures). But seriously, he must have read the thing - how did he get off thinking he could just lie about it, and then release it three hours later, like nobody would notice?
Now for a summary of the media reaction to the story. It ain't pretty. Meaning, it's absolutely hysterical.
First, ABC News. I watched their broadcast last night, top story, talking about the NIE. "It says the jihadist movement is spreading," Charlie Gibson said. "These three-plus pages are very sobering," said Martha Radditz. It got worse from there.
And now the rest of the media weighs in.
Here is AP's headline: "Iraq is 'cause celebre' for extremists." And here is what AP had to say:
The war in Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment of the U.S. that probably will get worse before it gets better, federal intelligence analysts conclude in a report at odds with President Bush's portrayal of a world growing safer....And there's more:
Bush and his top advisers have said the formerly classified assessment of global terrorism supported their arguments that the world is safer because of the war. But more than three pages of stark judgments warning about the spread of terrorism contrasted with the administration's glass-half-full declarations.
Iraq Is Fueling Muslim Radicalism Globally, US Report SaysAnd my personal favorite, Pravda on the Hudson weighs in:
Bloomberg -1 hour ago
By Brendan Murray and Jeff Bliss. Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Anger over the war in Iraq is fueling Muslim radicalism, and the dispersal ...
No longer a secret: Iraq war breeds terror threat
USA Today -1 hour ago
In Washington today, politicians too often just stand their ground. Liberal strategist Bob Beckel and conservative columnist Cal Thomas provide a better model. ...
Waging the War on Terror: Report Belies Optimistic View
New York Times, United States -1 hour ago
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — Three years ago, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld wrote a memo to his colleagues in the Pentagon ...
Iraq war fuels terror - US report
BBC News, UK -2 hours ago
The Iraq conflict has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic militants worldwide, declassified parts of a US intelligence report say. ...
Iraq Is 'Cause Celebre' for Extremists
Forbes -6 hours ago
By KATHERINE SHRADER , 09.26.2006, 07:02 PM. The war in Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment ...
Iraq Is 'Cause Celebre' for Extremists
ABC News -6 hours ago
President Bush gestures as he speaks during a news conference with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC ...
Iraq is 'cause celebre' for extremists
Houston Chronicle, United States -8 hours ago
By KATHERINE SHRADER Associated Press Writer. WASHINGTON — A declassified government intelligence report says the war in Iraq has ...
NIE says Iraq is 'cause celebre' for jihadists
U.S. News & World Report, DC -6 hours ago
... National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism done by the US intelligence community last April say the Iraq conflict has become "the 'cause celebre' for jihadists ...
Iraq war has become a 'cause celebre' for extremists, US report ...
Arizona Republic, AZ -8 hours ago
WASHINGTON - A declassified government intelligence report says the war in Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, breeding deep resentment ...
Iraq a 'Cause Celebre' for Extremists, Intel Report Says
FOX News -7 hours ago
WASHINGTON — A newly declassified and controversial intelligence report says that the Iraq conflict has become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists, but ...
