Sources: Negroponte Blocks CIA Analysis of Iraq “Civil War”

[grytpype]

Apparently Dear Leader doesn't like bad news and Negroponte won't let it get to him.

http://www.harpers.org/sb-sources-negroponte-nei-cia-1153433546.html

Sources: Negroponte Blocks CIA Analysis of Iraq “Civil War”
Posted on Friday, July 21, 2006. By Ken Silverstein.
Sources

I reported in May that despite the deteriorating situation in Iraq, no National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has been produced on that country since the summer of 2004. The last NIE, a classified document that the CIA describes as “the most authoritative written judgment concerning a national security issue,” was rejected by the Bush Administration (after being leaked to the New York Times) as being too negative, though its grim assessment subsequently proved to be highly accurate.

The situation has gotten even darker since my initial story—a United Nations report cited in Wednesday's New York Times found that an average of more than 100 Iraqi civilians were killed each day in June—and I've learned from two sources that some senior figures at the CIA, along with a number of Iraq analysts, have been pushing to produce a new NIE. They've been stonewalled, however, by John Negroponte, the administration's Director of National Intelligence, who knows that any honest take on the situation would produce an NIE even more pessimistic than the 2004 version. That could create problems on the Hill and, if it is leaked as the last one was, with the public as well.

“What do you call the situation in Iraq right now?” asked one person familiar with the situation. “The analysts know that it's a civil war, but there's a feeling at the top that will complicate matters.” Negroponte, said another source regarding the potential impact of a pessimistic assessment, “doesn't want the president to have to deal with that.”

....


A third source, a former CIA officer who served in Iraq, said he had no direct knowledge of Negroponte blocking the NIE but that it jibed with past practice. “The NIE is a crucial document . . . that tells you how to tweak your policy,” he said. “That's hard to do if you don't want to look at it.” He said he had two recent conversations with people in Iraq, one an official at the Ministry of Interior who told him that as of two days ago there were 1,600 bodies piled up at the central morgue in Baghdad. The second conversation, he said, was with an Iraqi general officer who told him, “I never thought I would see my capital like this. It's on fire.”

[zreosumgame]

1. well, it needs to be blocked of course

after all, if there was real info that could possibly stop it all or at least calm things down, why that would not be 'staying the course' with our self-annointed 'war pResident'who needs a scorched Iraq to colonize with white repuke marching morons.

[madame defarge]

2. Not the first time...

I'm reading "The End of Iraq" by Peter Galbraith and he has this to say in Chapter 1: The Appointment of Samarra, pg. 5...

"With regard to Iraq, President Bush and his top advisors have consistently substituted wishful thinking for analysis and hope for strategy. In July 2004, the Central Intelligence Agency prepared a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) of the situation in Iraq. Representing the collective judgement of American's most experienced Iraq analysts based on the best intelligence available to the U.S. government, the NIE warned of the danger of civil war. When President Bush was asked about the NIE in September 2004, he shrugged it off: "The CIA said life could be lousy, life could be OK, life could be better. The Iraqi people don't share their pessimism."

BTW, I highly recommend this book.

[truthisfreedom]

13. it's hard to "share their pessimism" when you're dead.

imagine being an Iraqi and knowing that your voice will NEVER be heard, and an unelected fraud from another country is simultaneously invading and occupying your country and stirring up civil war while he speaks for you and says you like it and want it that way.

[Rose Siding]

3. This is the "LaLaLaLaLa I Can't Hear You" school of foreign policy

and it's killing people.

[aquart]

6. Perfect description.

And, yeah, it is.

[Ka hrnt]

7. That pretty much sums up my view of it too...

Dismiss information because it's "too negative"??? What, the CIA now has to present what Bush wants to hear, not what it thinks? That's really scary.

[Barrett808]

4. k&r

[warrens]

5. "When in doubt, lie"

The watchwords of this administration, who are evidently in doubt a LOT.

[RedEarth]

8. Typical conservative strategy....keep the truth from coming out

[Roland99]

9. Of course. Ol' "Death Squads" himself can't let the truth be known.

[young_at_heart]

10. They "don't" want the president to have to deal with that"???

Isn't that his JOB?

[gp]

11. That's why the administration is praising the lord now for

this "diversion" in Lebanon...practically all eyes are off IRAQ.
That's why the US doesnt want no immediate ceasefire...

But how long can this go on...they must know that by ignoring the situation things WILL get
unimaginably worse for the region, the world...and for their political asses back home.

I think an even bigger "diversion" is imminent that will get the Iraq situation completely
off the public's mind for a long long time.

[truthisfreedom]

12. we can only assume one thing. bushco WANTS Iraq to be on fire. they WANT

civil war to raise gas prices as high as possible. they are FLEECING AMERICA.

[gp]

14. Of course, if there was peace in Iraq...

Blackwater, Halliburton, K&R and all the other defense contractors in the region wouldn't be making record profits...

[goforit]

16. bushco won't bat an eyelash if America is on fire either.

With bush/cheney down in the dumps with the pollsters they
could give a damn about the US.
(wait and see)

[goforit]

15. Negropointe's philosophy, "Let there be carnage" and there is.

[rman]

17. In about a year or so they'll say "we didn't know" and blame the CIA

It's not willful ignorance, it's manufactured ignorance...

Manufactured enemies, manufactured consent. No wonder construction jobs are up.

[gp]

18. k&r n/t

[MasonJar]

19. No, Negroponte, do not make the president deal with just because

lives are lost in ever-increasing numbers and he started it. We wouldn't want to interfere with his bedtime and his boyish shenanigans.

[ckramer]

20. Negroponte Blocks CIA Analysis of Iraq “Civil War”

When the topic of a new NIE was first raised, the Directorate of National Intelligence agreed to consider the matter, but advocates heard nothing back. They raised the topic again several months ago and were told that Negroponte was still mulling over the matter. Since then, there's been no indication that the DNI intends to authorize a new NIE. “He's not going to allow to call the situation warts and all,” said one source. “There's real angst about it inside.”

A third source, a former CIA officer who served in Iraq, said he had no direct knowledge of Negroponte blocking the NIE but that it jibed with past practice. “The NIE is a crucial document . . . that tells you how to tweak your policy,” he said. “That's hard to do if you don't want to look at it.” He said he had two recent conversations with people in Iraq, one an official at the Ministry of Interior who told him that as of two days ago there were 1,600 bodies piled up at the central morgue in Baghdad. The second conversation, he said, was with an Iraqi general officer who told him, “I never thought I would see my capital like this. It's on fire.”

“ can call it whatever they want,” said the former CIA officer. “There's a civil war going on in Iraq.”



http://www.harpers.org/sb-sources-negroponte-nei-cia-1153433546.html">link

[jean]

21. you can't follow normal, civilized protocol with someone like Negroponte

he and his people need to be knocked upside the head and pinned down. They're never going to cooperate with polite requests.

[Ilsa]

24. I'm hoping it

will be more than a knock upside the head when it comes to this character. I shouldn't think that way, but the man is evil.

[DesEtoiles]

22. Proof positive that there's a civil war

[IndianaGreen]

23. It is also proof of a faith-based foreign policy

Their minds are made up, they don't need facts!