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Democrats Use Intel Report to Attack GOP    [

    Study of Iraq War and Terror Stirs Strong Political Response
    By Philip Shenon and Mark Mazzetti
    The New York Times

    Monday 25 September 2006

    Washington - Democratic lawmakers, responding to an intelligence report that found that the Iraq war has invigorated Islamic radicalism and worsened the global terrorist threat, said the assessment by American spy agencies demonstrated that the Bush administration needed to devise a new strategy for its handling of the war.

    Representative Jane Harman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that while she could not discuss details of the classified National Intelligence Estimate, "Every intelligence analyst I speak to confirms that" the Iraq war had contributed to the increased terrorist threat.

    "Even capturing the remaining top Al Qaeda leadership isn't going to prevent copycat cells, and it isn't going to change a failed policy in Iraq," Ms. Harman said on CNN's "Late Edition." "This administration is trying to change the subject. I don't think voters are going to buy that."

    In public comments on Sunday, Republican Congressional leaders did not dispute the accuracy of the reports about the intelligence estimate, although they continued to defend the American presence in Iraq.

    "I think it's obvious that the difficulties we've experienced in Iraq have certainly emboldened" terrorist groups, Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said on the CBS News program "Face the Nation."

    "But I would also argue that these people didn't need any motivation to attack us on Sept. 11," he said.

    The intelligence estimate, an assessment by America's 16 intelligence agencies, found that the war in Iraq, rather than stemming the growth of terrorism, had helped fuel its spread across the globe.

    The estimate was completed in April, and is the first formal review of global terrorism by the United States since the Iraq war began. More than a dozen government officials and terrorism experts described the estimate to The New York Times, but spoke on condition of anonymity because its contents are classified.

    Several of the lawmakers who appeared on Sunday talk shows said they had not seen the classified document, whose disclosure comes weeks before the Nov. 7 elections. Intelligence reports from American spy agencies are not circulated widely on Capitol Hill, and Congressional officials said neither the House nor the Senate intelligence committees had been formally briefed on the report.

    In a statement released Sunday, the White House said the characterization of the report in The New York Times "is not representative of the complete document." The White House did not release any specifics about the report, citing the fact that it was classified.

    John D. Negroponte, director of national intelligence, said in a statement on Sunday that conclusions about the Iraq war are only a part of the overall intelligence assessment, and that viewing the reports conclusions "through the narrow prism of a fraction of judgments distorts the broad framework they create."

    "While there is much that remains to be done in the war on terror, we have achieved some notable successes against the global jihadist threat," he said.

    The White House also issued three pages of excerpts from recent speeches by President Bush, including remarks about the continuing threats from terrorist groups inspired by Al Qaeda.

    The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, said in a statement that news reports about the intelligence estimate were "further proof that the war in Iraq is making it harder for America to fight and win the war on terror."

    Her Senate Democratic counterpart, Harry Reid of Nevada, said that "no election-year White House P.R. campaign can hide this truth - it is crystal clear that America's security demands we change course in Iraq."

 

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    Dems Use Intel Report to Attack GOP
    By Nedra Pickler
    The Associated Press

    Sunday 24 September 2006

    Democrats on Sunday seized on an intelligence assessment that said the Iraq war has increased the terrorist threat, saying it was further evidence that Americans should choose new leadership in the November elections.

    The Democrats hoped the report would undermine the GOP's image as the party more capable of handing terrorism as the campaign enters its final six-week stretch.

    Their criticisms came in a collection of statements sent to reporters Sunday amid the disclosure of a National Intelligence Estimate that concluded the war has helped create a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

    The report was completed in April and represented a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government, according to an intelligence official. The official, confirming accounts first published in Sunday's New York Times and Washington Post, spoke on condition of anonymity on Sunday because the report is classified.

    "Unfortunately this report is just confirmation that the Bush administration's stay-the-course approach to the Iraq war has not just made the war more difficult and more deadly for our troops, but has also made the war on terror more dangerous for every American," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record), head of the Democratic effort to take control of the House.

    "It's time for a new direction in this country," Emanuel, D-Ill., said in the statement.

    "Press reports say our nation's intelligence services have confirmed that President Bush's repeated missteps in Iraq and his stubborn refusal to change course have made America less safe," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. "No election-year White House PR campaign can hide this truth."

    A White House spokesman, Blair Jones, said, "We don't comment on classified documents." But he said the published accounts' "characterization of the NIE is not representative of the complete document."

    The White House issued a written rebuttal that argued administration officials have been making some of the same arguments as in the intelligence estimate. A White House strategy booklet released this month described the terrorists as more dispersed and less centralized and still a threat to the United States.

    Bush himself said on Sept. 5 that "terrorist danger remains" and the broader terrorist movement is becoming more spread out and self-directed. He also quoted Osama bin Laden describing Iraq as the central battlefield in the fight against terrorism.

    The president has said the United States is safer since the Sept. 11 attacks and that fighting the terrorists in Iraq keeps them from attacking America. He has said leaving Iraq would make the world less safe.

    Democrats said Bush had misled people about Iraq's contribution to the terrorist threat.

    "It is abundantly clear that we need a new direction in Iraq by strategically redeploying our troops to fight and win the real war on terror and make our country safer," said Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass. "The American people know it and our military leaders do as well. It's only the Republican leaders who have their heads in the sand, stubbornly refusing to change course and making the war on terror harder to win."

    Rep. Jane Harman (news, bio, voting record), the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee and one of a few lawmakers to have read the classified report, said she agrees with the findings.

    "Even capturing the remaining top al-Qaida leadership isn't going to prevent copycat cells, and it isn't going to change a failed policy in Iraq," she said. "This administration is trying to change the subject. I don't think voters are going to buy that."

    In congressional races across the country, Democratic candidates used the report to attack their opponents and tie them to Bush's faltering strategy. In New York, for example, Democratic challenger Kirsten Gillibrand pointed to the report and said GOP Rep. John Sweeney (news, bio, voting record) "has supported President Bush 100 percent of the time on Iraq, refusing to ask tough questions or push for honest answers."

    "Now is the time for a new direction, and real accountability and oversight," she said, then called for U.S. forces to be moved out of Iraq within six months to a year.

    Three leading Republicans - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona and Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) of Kentucky - defended the war in Iraq and said it is vital that U.S. troops stay in the fight. None of them had seen the classified report, but were responding to press coverage of it.

    McConnell suggested that the fight in Iraq has stopped terrorists from attacking the U.S. and leaving would only create "a breeding ground for attacks here at home."

    "Attacks here at home stopped when we started fighting al-Qaida where they live, rather than responding after they hit," McConnell said in a statement.

    McCain told CBS' "Face the Nation" that if the U.S. were to fail in Iraq, "then our problems will be much more complicated."

    But at least one Republican - Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania - said he was very concerned about the intelligence report and agreed that the war had intensified Islamic fundamentalism.

    "I think there is a much more fundamental issue how we respond," he said on CNN's "Late Edition." "And that is what we do with the Iraq war itself. That's the focal point for inspiring more radical Islam fundamentalism, and that's a problem that nobody seems to have an answer to."

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    Associated Press writer Jim Drinkard contributed to this report.