CIA officials provide bleak assessments of Iraq: newspaper

[Barrett808]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The departing CIA station chief in Iraq and another CIA official who visited there recently reportedly presented bleak views of the situation in Iraq in classified briefings to their superiors.

The New York Times reported, in a classified cable sent in late November, the CIA chief who ended a year-long tour of duty in Iraq, warned that the security situation was likely to get worse, including more violence and sectarian violence unless the Iraqi government asserted authority and built up the economy, said officials familiar with his cable.

The CIA chief's identity was withheld, but officials described him as highly regarded within the intelligence agencies.

The CIA official who visited Iraq and then briefed officials from other US government agencies was Michael Kostiew, a senior adviser to new Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) chief Porter Goss. His assessment of Iraq was similarly bleak, the officials said.

Both assessments were much more pessimistic than the picture of Iraq offered by top US government officials and could signify that Goss is willing to listen to different views than those expressed by the US administration, The New York Times said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/afp/20041207/pl_afp/us_iraq_cia_reports

[tk2kewl]

1. These guys didn't get the bushCo memo?

:shrug:

[Rose Siding]

2. Here's the NYT article

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1050390

[Moderator]

3. Duplicate topic--Please continue discussion here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1050390