War assessment sobering: Iraq war has become a "major debacle" & has actually made America less safe

[maddezmom]

The Iraq war has become a "major debacle" that has actually made America less safe. That's not an anti-war Democrat talking -- it's the conclusion of some of the Pentagon's top military strategists.

The new assessment is a sobering reminder that, for all the Bush administration's talk of "surge" success and victory in sight, the Iraq war carries heavy costs for the country while delivering doubtful gains.

The new report, from the Pentagon's top education institute and based on interviews with former senior defense and intelligence officials, concludes that Iraq has become a "major war" with no clear outcome that has diminished America's standing abroad.

Far from enhancing America's security, our efforts in Iraq "have become, at least temporarily, an incubator for terrorism and have emboldened Iran to expand its influence throughout the Middle East."

Moreover, the war has diverted "manpower, materiel and the attention of decision-makers" from "all other efforts" in the war on terror.

That key assessment is bolstered by another new report, this one from the Government Accountability Office, the research arm of Congress, which supports the contention that the Iraq war has become a distraction from the war on terror and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida -- the people who actually attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001.

more:http://www.kansas.com/611/story/379096.html

[pberq]

1. amazing how "war on terror" has been successfully inserted

into any "official" discussion of the Iraq war, despite the fact that "war on terror" is meaningless and just a propaganda phrase.

[satya]

2. preeminent threat; attacks "designed to produce mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, ..."

The 2008 DNI Annual Threat Assessment and other sources have concluded that the resurgence of al Qaeda terrorists on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan now pose a preeminent threat to U.S. national security. The assessment also examines the impact of not meeting the national security goals. It states that al Qaeda is now using the Pakistani safe haven to put the last element necessary to launch another attack against America into place, including the identification, training, and positioning of Western operatives for an attack. It stated that al Qaeda is most likely using the FATA to plot terrorist attacks against political, economic, and infrastructure targets in America “designed to produce mass casualties, visually dramatic destruction, significant economic aftershocks, and/or fear among the population.”

source: Page 10 GAO-08-622
COMBATING TERRORISM
The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas
April 2008

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08622.pdf