National Intelligence Estimate
outlines dismal situation in Iraq

From the Chicago Tribune via the San Jose Mercury-News courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

At the same time, the report - with only excerpts of the still-classified document released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence - has added impetus to debate over the nature of the conflict in Iraq. The report concludes that "the term civil war does not adequately capture the complexity" of the conflict, while it does define "key elements of the conflict" - including a "hardening of ethno-centric identities" and a "sea-change in the character of the violence."

And

The report, warning that a withdrawal of forces could bring massive civilian casualties, also acknowledges that Iraqis will be "hard-pressed" to gain control over sectarian violence in the year ahead.

Click here for the rest.

So they're not calling it a civil war because it's actually much worse than a civil war. Great. And even though a US withdrawal might result in "massive civilian casualties," the situation seems to be deteriorating such that those casualties may very well happen whether we're there or not. Either way we're fucked. Meanwhile, the White House keeps its fingers crossed, hoping against hope that their desperate "surge" will somehow make the corrupt Iraqi government take matters in hand. What a sick joke. The only way out of this is for the US to give up control to some sort of international approach, bringing in both Iran and the Saudis, as well as Pakistan and the UN.

Bush will never let that happen. Expect the bloodshed to increase astronomically.

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