U.S. intelligence report says Iraq perilous

I have no reason to doubt the new NIE report is correct. Although I believe they should have addressed the issue of civil war in Iraq.

The situation in Iraq is perilous, with Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence surpassing al Qaeda as the most immediate threat to U.S. goals, according to a long-awaited intelligence report, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

The 90-page document came to no conclusion over whether the conflict in Iraq has become a civil war, but the authors expressed uncertainly over whether Iraqi leaders would be able to transcend the sectarian divide to fight extremism and establish functioning national institutions, the Post reported.

Iran, which the White House has accused of fuelling the bloodshed, is mentioned in the document -- the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq -- but it does not focus on Iran, the Post said.

Of course they don't really have a great track record, do they? Just asking.

The 2002 estimate said Iraq had arsenals of chemical and biological weapons -- a claim that proved to be false after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

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