new National Intelligence Estimate, which notes that terrorists have profited from U.S. efforts to combat terrorism. I don’t know if the administration will believe such a report, but it does bring a couple of items to the front of my mind:

1. The article notes that at this point, both the U.S. and al-Qaeda consider Iraq as the center of the current “war”. As an opponent of our invasion, I have to wonder who considered it first — I’m guessing the U.S. al-Qaeda has been able to use our (over)reaction to great effect in hindering our efforts to establish a stable government and infrastructure.

2. An anonymous intelligence officer is quoted as saying that one of the problems with U.S. strategy “is that we focus on the terrorists and very little on how they are created.” In my line of work (IT support), we’re usually behind the curve if we’re being solely reactive to current situation; we can be effective only when we combine our responsiveness with the ability and drive to anticipate new issues and prepare accordingly. I can’t see why we would want to be more thorough in supporting Microsoft Word than in protecting ourselves and others from the radical and hateful ideology that al-Qaeda espouses.

Over at the Washington Times, they don’t mention the NIE, but do include John McCaslin’s “Inside the Beltway”, where he proclaims that the Guantanamo prisoners are well-treated because we spend more money on food for the prisoners than on food for the troops and because we provide basic dental and optical care for those we’ve imprisoned. Of course, he doesn’t mention how much is spent on food per person — that may muddy his argument. He also doesn’t compare this to what we spend in potentially similar arenas (i.e. federal prisons). Unfortunately, people will come away with the feeling that it’s good times in Gitmo, when we know differently. ]]>