US shifting focus, agents from Kabul to Baghdad

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- As the hunt for Saddam Hussein grows more urgent and the guerrilla war in Iraq shows little sign of abating, the Bush administration is continuing to shift highly specialized intelligence officers from the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to the Iraq crisis, according to intelligence officials who have been involved in the redeployments.

The recent moves -- involving both analysts in Washington and specially trained field operatives -- follow the transfer of hundreds of elite commandos from Afghanistan duty to service in Iraq, Pentagon officials said.

The activity reflects the priority of capturing Hussein quickly, ending the guerrilla war, and locating possible weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, officials said. It also gives further ammunition, however, to critics who have long claimed that fighting the Iraq war would divert resources and attention from the hunt for bin Laden, the primary architect of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and other Al Qaeda fugitives.

snip>

Still, US officials acknowledge that the war in Iraq has siphoned some key military and intelligence resources from the US efforts in Afghanistan -- even as regrouping radical elements, a fragile security situation in the countryside, and a dramatic increase in opium production threaten to destabilize the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

"Did the intelligence community reallocate intelligence assets to Iraq? Sure," said one senior US intelligence official who asked not to be named. "We need to be flexible enough to surge. When you surge, you have to rededicate. You can move assets back and forth to the detriment of the other."


http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/08/18/us_shifting_focus_agents_from_kabul_to_baghdad

[Beetwasher]

1. Idiots

What a bunch of fucking morons. Great, let's scale back the hunt for real terrorists....

[w13rd0]

2. Are they ALL being trained in Rumspeak now?

Are our soldiers dying in Iraq over a pack of lies? Some might say that.

Am I the most self-absorbed Bushbot jackass in this Administration? Well, there are lots of jackasses vying for the title.

Do I give a f*ck about the grunts on the ground? I think you can draw your own conclusions.

Is this a poorly planned quagmire with no exit strategy? You betcher ass...