Part of Iraq Intelligence Report Is Released
'Political' Leaks of Paper Led to Decision, Bush Says
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 27, 2006; Page A01
The Bush administration yesterday released portions of a classified intelligence estimate that says the global jihadist movement is growing and being fueled by the war in Iraq even as it becomes more decentralized, making it harder to identify potential terrorists and prevent attacks.
The war in Iraq has become a "cause celebre" for jihadists, breeding resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and drawing new adherents to the movement, the assessment says. The growth in the number of potential terrorists is also being fed by corruption, slow-moving political reform in many Muslim countries and "pervasive" anti-American sentiment, according to the report.
The jihadist movement is potentially limited by its ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam and could be slowed by democratic reforms in the Muslim world, says the document, which reflects the collective judgment of the nation's 16 intelligence agencies. In addition, it asserts that if jihadists are perceived to be defeated in Iraq, "fewer fighters would be inspired to carry on the fight."
Still, terrorists with experience constructing roadside bombs and other deadly devices in Iraq "are a potential source" of leadership in attacks elsewhere, the report says.
President Bush took the extraordinary step of releasing portions of the classified report, which was completed in April, to counter assertions made after information from the document was leaked to media outlets over the weekend. Articles based on those leaks said the report blames the war in Iraq for worsening the global terrorist threat -- an interpretation that the administration calls a distortion of its contents.
Speaking at a White House news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Bush angrily called the leak a political act intended to affect the upcoming midterm elections. "Somebody has taken it upon themselves to leak classified information for political purposes," he said.
The president added that it is naive to think that terrorism would be any less pervasive if the United States had not invaded Iraq, repeating his oft-made point that extremists attacked U.S. interests around the world long before the start of the war.
"My judgment is, if we weren't in Iraq, they'd find some other excuse, because they have ambitions," Bush said. "They kill in order to achieve their objectives."
Bush said he reluctantly ordered the release of the National Intelligence Estimate so people can form their own conclusions about it. "You can read it for yourself," he said. "We'll stop all the speculation, all the politics about somebody saying something about Iraq, somebody trying to confuse the American people about the nature of this enemy."
Disclosure of parts of the document, which represents the U.S. intelligence community's first formal assessment of terrorist threats since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, did nothing to quell the partisan storm that has been brewing since the first stories about it surfaced.
Democrats have seized on the document to bolster their contention that the war in Iraq has been a debacle that has hindered broader anti-terrorism efforts, even as the administration calls Iraq the central front in a global struggle.
For the third straight day, Democrats sought to draw attention to the issue with news conferences and political maneuvers. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) moved to put the House into secret session to discuss the intelligence estimate, but the motion was defeated along party lines.
"With such a devastating and authoritative analysis of the Bush administration's failures in Iraq, the president and the Republican-controlled Congress now have a choice to make," said Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.). "Will they stubbornly follow a failed stay-the-course strategy that America's intelligence community has concluded makes America less safe, or will they finally admit their mistakes and change course?"
Democrats challenged the White House to release the full report. "The American people deserve the full story, not those parts of it that the Bush administration selects," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (Mass.). "President Bush should declassify the entire NIE as the Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee has suggested so the American people can read the plain facts for themselves."
Bush announced his decision to declassify parts of the terrorism assessment after a meeting with Karzai. During the meeting, he told the Afghan leader that the United States will stand by him in his battle against a resurgent Taliban and other Islamic extremists.
"I know there are some in your country who wonder whether or not America has got the will to do the hard work necessary to help you succeed," Bush told Karzai. "We have got that will."
Bush restated his commitment to help the Afghan government as he is working to warm the increasingly frosty relations between Karzai and another critical ally in the U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, president of neighboring Pakistan. Bush met with Musharraf on Friday, and the three leaders are scheduled to meet and have dinner this evening at the White House.
The fruitless search for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the surging violence by Taliban fighters, particularly in southern Afghanistan, have contributed to friction between Karzai and Musharraf. They have blamed each other for the continued trouble, with Karzai suggesting that Musharraf is not doing enough to find bin Laden, who is widely believed to be hiding in one of the remote tribal-controlled areas of Pakistan.
Musharraf counters that Karzai has not done enough to address the grievances of Afghan people who have joined the Taliban or who support it.
Although the intelligence report offers a sobering picture of the global terrorist threat, it points to counterterrorism successes, including the killing or capture of much of the al-Qaeda leadership, and the condemnation of extremist views by "a few notable Muslim clerics."
It also says that a backlash could develop against Islamic radicals if they continue to kill fellow Muslims.
Still, the assessment warns, the underlying factors fueling the spread of jihadists' radical ideology "outweigh its vulnerabilities," a situation the report says is likely to continue for some time.
Karzai, speaking at the news conference, offered passionate support for Bush's efforts to combat terrorism. "These extremist forces were killing people in Afghanistan and around for years," he said. ". . . They came to America on September 11th, but they were attacking you before September 11th in other parts of the world. . . . Should we wait for them to come and kill us again?" (underlining mine)
