Negroponte: Iraqis in Insurgency More Elusive

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence is struggling to expose elements of the insurgency in Iraq made up of former members of Saddam Hussein's regime, John Negroponte, the nation's intelligence chief, said in an interview Monday.

Joint U.S.-Iraqi military efforts have damaged the network of foreign insurgents led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, though Zarqawi himself remains at large, Negroponte said. Indigenous Iraqi insurgents, led by former members of Saddam's ruling Baath Party, have been tougher to track down.

The "former regime elements ... seem to have very good operational secrecy," Negroponte said in a wide-ranging interview with USA TODAY reporters. "And thus far it's not been that easy to make a dent in that part of the insurgency."

Though foreign fighters, mainly Sunni Muslim Arabs from Syria and Saudi Arabia, have grabbed headlines with suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Iraqis, Negroponte said Iraqis dominate the insurgency. Despite intense focus on Iraq, where 138,000 U.S. troops are deployed, U.S. intelligence has not been able to produce anything more than a "speculative" estimate of the insurgency's size, he said.

Based on everything he has seen, Negroponte said, the insurgency is neither gaining strength nor weakening appreciably. The insurgency's stubborn resistance to U.S. and Iraqi military efforts has complicated the development of a democracy.

(more)

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,77008,00.html

[Kagemusha]

1. So what's his angle? Surely he's not telling the truth for honesty's sake

He must have some special reason for sprinkling truth upon these reporters. We know it's not the natural state of affairs for administration employees. Maybe he wants credibility so he can credibly lie to people later, or he's trying to compete with other members of the administration well known for their propaganda concerning foreign fighters?

[bemildred]

2. Negroponte: Horseman of the Neo-Con Apocalypse

Said he'll be in charge of what will become the largest embassy in the world. Then it mentions a hitch in his nomination for UN ambassador

In the confirmation hearings, Negroponte actually had to say, "To this day, I do not believe that death squads were operating in Honduras."

How messed up do things have to be in your past for you to have to say something like that? I've never had to deny an association with death squads in any of my job interviews. What's so different between me and John Negroponte?

Maybe it's just an age difference. Long before I was born, Negroponte was working as a political officer in the Saigon embassy. He served in that capacity from 1964 to 1968, and later became Kissinger's Vietnam expert at the Paris peace talks.

http://www.diacritica.com/sobaka/2004/negroponte.html

[rustydog]

3. WHAT? They aren't in their last throes? Cheny was wrong?

Bush, we hold you responsible, whether you accept it or not.
Your God will hold you responsible too whether or not.