So now Bush regrets having used certain colloquial Hollywood expressions, like saying "Bring ‘em on," to the Iraq insurgency, and saying he wanted Osama bin Laden "Dead or Alive". Of course, if he’d actually gone out and gotten Osama — "Dead or Alive" — well, he would’ve deserved some props for that, wouldn’t he? And if he’d actually sent a well-equipped and prepared Army that was ready for the insurgents to "Bring It On", then he would have deserved some credit for that, too. But no, it was just a matter of a poor choice of words. Maybe it’s the Preznit’s first halting steps on a long road of introspection, of dark nights of the soul… Naah.
National Intelligence Center’s Director calls Iraq a terrorist magnet
Jan 14, ’05
12:05 AM
The WaPo has the story on a 119-page report just released by the National Intelligence Center, a CIA thinktank (hat tip: Oliver Willis). The NIC’s director told the Post: "At the moment, Iraq is a magnet for international terrorist activity." Also, the report also adds Iraq to the list of conflicts that "have deepened solidarity among Muslims and helped spread radical Islamic theology." I don’t claim to be any kind of expert on the situation in Iraq, or on international terrorism. And I genuinely hope that the security situation in Iraq improves to the point that it can be truly said that the people of Iraq are better off. But in light of this new report, together with the recent disclosure that the unsuccessful search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is officially over … how is it, again, that the invasion of Iraq made the people of the United States safer?
