There's not a whole lot to say about the leaked National Intelligence Estimate concluding the war in Iraq has heightened the risk of terror, largely because it basically says it all. The NIE represents the consensus view of 16 spy agencies "are the most authoritative documents that the intelligence community produces on a specific national security issue." Essentially, there's no more forceful or respectable analysis the US government could generate on the topic. And it has concluded that Iraq has made terrorism in America more, not less, likely.
Said another way, Bush's reaction to 9/11 was to embark on an unrelated war that significantly increased the chances of 9/11. Were the Republican Party a more serious, rather than forthrightly ideological and partisan institution, this would radically upend their support and faith in the mission. Instead, the Bush administration sought to suppress this report, even going so far as to demand it be restructured towards providing solutions for calming the terrorist threat rather than actually explaining what we have done to intensify it. And you can see why. If this document was honestly absorbed -- it is, again, the best product our intelligence community can muster -- this would be the end of the Republican majority in 2006, and Bush's effective authority on terrorism for the remainder of his presidency. It will not be taken so seriously, and that is our loss. The magnitude of the fuck-up we've suspected and it alleges is magnificent, and it's no exaggeration to say it puts the lie to the entirety of the Bush presidency.
