Kennedy: Misguided War in Iraq has ‘Metastasized and Spread’ Terrorism

[kerrygoddess]

Ted Kennedy: Misguided War in Iraq has ‘Metastasized and Spread’ Terrorism Llike Cancer Around the World
September 24th, 2006 @ 12:51 am

The N.Y. Times reports that the new National Intelligence Estimate “attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.” Why are we not surprised?

An opening section of the report, “Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement,” cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology.

The report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,” said one American intelligence official.

Last month the Senate unanimously passed an amendment from Senator Ted Kennedy that required the Director of National Intelligence to task the intelligence community to prepare a new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. Senator Kennedy issued the following statement in response to the New York Times report of the National Intelligence Estimate which determined that the war in Iraq has increased terrorism around the world:

“According to reports, this intelligence document should put the final nail in the coffin for President Bush’s phony argument about the Iraq war. Despite what President Bush says, the intelligence community has reported the plain truth — the misguided war in Iraq has ‘metastasized and spread’ terrorism like cancer around the world. The fact that we need a new direction in Iraq to really win the war on terror and make Americans safer could not be clearer or more urgent - yet this Administration stubbornly clings to a failed ’stay- the-course’ strategy. How many more independent reports, how many more deaths, how much deeper into civil war will Iraq need to fall for the White House to wake up and change its strategy in Iraq?”

The WaPo reports, “A 30-page National Intelligence Estimate completed in April cites the “centrality” of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the insurgency that has followed, as the leading inspiration for new Islamic extremist networks and cells that are united by little more than an anti-Western agenda.”

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4270#more-4270

[Joanie Baloney]

1. Nice to see the fire's still there

Unfortunately, Ted Kennedy can't ever be more than a mouthpiece for us. But, it's nice to see that he still has that Kennedy spark.

Great description - "metastasized and spread"





* spellage

[kerrygoddess]

2. He's got an awesome spark!

Still burning after all these years.

[Joanie Baloney]

3. Hey...

Isn't that a Paul Simon song??!?
Oh wait...no, that's "Still Crazy..." That could apply to a lot of people.

;)

[babylonsister]

4. Another Dem speaks up! Go, Sen. Kennedy, and thanks, kg!

:patriot: