President was told in July of civil war risk in Iraq
Friday, September 17, 2004 at 08:10AM
TheSpook
Bush failed to plan for after war, report says
President George Bush was warned in July that Iraq
could descend into all-out civil war, according to a classified
estimate which summarised the views of a number of US intelligence
agencies. Even the best-case scenario for Iraq is a political, economic
and security situation described as tenuous. The National Intelligence
Estimate predicts three possible scenarios: tenuous stability,
political fragmentation, or civil war. The 50-page document, prepared
in July before the latest upsurge in violence brought a sharp increase
in Iraqi civilians killed and attacks on American troops, has yet to be
officially released. A spokesman for the national security council,
Scott McCormack, confirmed its existence and remained upbeat, but
refused to discuss the details.Meanwhile, even Republican senators
described the administration's reconstruction efforts as "beyond
pitiful" and "exasperating from any vantage point," when the White
House sought to divert $3bn from reconstruction to security. The
administration dismissed the criticism, the White House spokesman Scott
McClellan calling critics "pessimists and hand-wringers". [more ] and [more ]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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