So we ponder again...Are we safer?

[NuWaveRx]

I'm sure many of you saw of heard about this:

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: September 24, 2006
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 — A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The classified National Intelligence Estimate attributes a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented either in recent White House documents or in a report released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, according to several officials in Washington involved in preparing the assessment or who have read the final document.

The intelligence estimate, completed in April, is the first formal appraisal of global terrorism by United States intelligence agencies since the Iraq war began, and represents a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government. Titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,’’ it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe.

An opening section of the report, “Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement,” cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology.

The report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,” said one American intelligence official.

More than a dozen United States government officials and outside experts were interviewed for this article, and all spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a classified intelligence document. The officials included employees of several government agencies, and both supporters and critics of the Bush administration. All of those interviewed had either seen the final version of the document or participated in the creation of earlier drafts. These officials discussed some of the document’s general conclusions but not details, which remain highly classified.

What's your opinion? Is "safe" a relative term in 2006? Should we have focused more on Afganistan? What do we do now?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world ... odayspaper

[KYYX4ever]

[i]The report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse,” said one American intelligence official.[/i]
hell yeah, it has ![xx(][:(!][V]

[SwampThing]

[quote]Should we have focused more on Afganistan?[/quote] read this
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14975282/site/newsweek/

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