WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- An unclassified sumamry of the new U.S. National Intelligence Estimate paints a dark picture of Iraq, a U.S. expert said.
"The new NIE presents a far grimmer and more realistic picture of Iraq than President Bush did in announcing his new strategy," Anthony H. Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh A. Burke chair in strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said in a statement Friday.
"This is a clear message in the Director of National Intelligence's NIE on Iraq, "Prospects for Iraq's Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead, that was issued on Feb. 2, 2007. The NIE describes a far more unstable Iraq than the president, and a far higher degree of risk in any new strategy," Cordesman said.
"Iraqi society's growing polarization, the persistent weakness of the security forces and the state in general, and all sides' ready recourse to violence are collectively driving an increase in communal and insurgent violence and political extremism," Cordesman said.
"The unclassified summary of the new NIE on Iraq only provides limited insight into the intelligence community warnings about the growing dangers in Iraq. Even so, it often provides a sharp contrast to many of the assumptions and statements the president made in his speech announcing his new strategy and the positions administration witnesses have taken since that time," he said.
"The reality is that the Bush administration and Neocon failure to prepare for stability operations and nation building were key factors in creating the insurgency and civil conflict in Iraq," Cordesman said. "A focus on national elections and a constitution that occurred in ways that divided the nation by sect and ethnicity did not provide a sound basis for government, or for compromise and conciliation."
