September 25, 2006
Islamic Terrorists Multiply
All of us here at Dakota are completely shocked about the intelligence assessment of 16 American intelligence agencies that was leaked yesterday by "more than a dozen government officials and terrorism experts" concluding that "the war in Iraq, rather than stemming the growth of terrorism, had helped fuel its spread across the globe". Or, as the Washington Post puts it:
The war in Iraq has become a primary recruitment vehicle for violent Islamic extremists, motivating a new generation of potential terrorists around the world whose numbers may be increasing faster than the United States and its allies can reduce the threat.
We are shocked because:
. the press has been reporting this for two days --- in the headlines, not on page 18.
. the press seems to be surprised -- To give them the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the leaked document simply provides concrete evidence upon which to base a story that has been perfectly obvious, at least for the last four years.
. that there are still enough people left in our intelligence agencies who would 1) be permitted to ask/answer these questions in the first place 2) would agree to participate in a study like this for fear of retaliation 3) would leak a report and risk their careers, public humiliation at the hands of the neoconservatives, or worse -- now that whistleblowers can be rooted out, prosecuted or probably rendited to secret locations, tortured, and retained without trial for years.
Kudos to the whistleblowers, and the editors and reporters at the New York Times and the Washington Post for revealing the truth publically at great personal risk, and not from Islamic terrorists, either.
Photo note: Detail from a Persian miniature that hangs in my office. The only Islamic warrior that was handy.
Posted by Dakota at September 25, 2006 05:50 AM