Applesauce

Recall the fable about the ten blind men trying to describe the elephant? 

Remember that when you read this:

The National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism is the most recent analysis of the nation's top intelligence analysts who work in 16 different spy agencies.

Comments

[Publius]

Reading through this thing, I am struck by how utterly useless it would be to policymakers who have the reponsibility of deciding what future actions to be taken. It is completely filled with bland observations couched in "either/or" terms. It doesn't take much of an analyst to conclude that every action could have both positive and negative results, often at the same time.

Sorry to be such a Neanderthal about it, but Curtis LeMay was right about war: "War means killing. You kill enough of them and they give up." [May not be an exact quote, but as close as I can remember it]

That's what's going on in a nutshell. If we give up, we strengthen and embolden them and their resolve tenfold. If we stick to the mission, they will eventually quit. The report reveals that strides have been made in weakening Al Queda. If we increase "resentment" against the West, I don't care, as long as the people who resent us know that there is no future in taking the fatal step from resentment to violent action. I resent lots of things and lots of people, but I won't be trying to kill anyone.

Publius