How do you analyze this week's early retreat from Baghdad? "From Bin Laden's perspective, we were afraid they were going to attack us and we left like a thief in the night, with Bremer throwing the keys to Allawi. They can only see this as a victory."
The Bush Administration likes to tell us that it was faulty intelligence analysis that got us into this mess in Iraq. The argument is something like this: "If you knew the things that we thought we knew then you'd have attacked Iraq too, but since you didn't know what we didn't know, no wonder you're confused, so trust us when we tell you we know this is the right thing to do." Of course, if you press for a further explanation they'll swear a blue streak at you on the Senate floor. But we don't have to risk all that verbal abuse because now we have a book written by a CIA employee -- and vetted by the Agency, so none of this is classified which means that the Bush Administration knew at least this much:
"We have waged two failed half-wars and, in doing so, left Afghanistan and Iraq seething with anti-U.S. sentiment, fertile grounds for the expansion of Al Qaeda and kindred groups."
"Iraq, with or without a transfer of power, will be a mujahedin magnet as long as whatever government is there is dependent on America's sword."
Los Angeles Times: CIA Felt Pressure to Alter Iraq Data
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