Bush counters report claiming war-generated terrorism increase
Senior White House officials and Republican strategists have begun a major damage-control operation to limit political harm to the administration from current news reports about a key National Intelligence Estimate that's getting huge coverage in the media. The estimate by the intelligence community, as reported in major news outlets, finds that the war in Iraq has generated a worldwide increase in the recruitment of terrorists–undercutting a key administration rationale for the Iraq war.
"The media reports are based on an April report and only partial information," says a senior GOP strategist. "The president still believes it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein from power and that the world is a safer place for it."
White House advisers don't think the reports will change many minds–those who disagree with the administration's Iraq policy will continue to do so, and those who agree will stay the course.
But Republican advisers are privately concerned that the estimate could add fuel to arguments that the war is wrong-headed and that President Bush and majority Republicans in Congress should be punished at the polls on November 7 for getting the nation into such a fix.
Republican strategists are also arguing that the media should not have divulged the classified NIE report in the first place because it's a bad precedent for protecting national security. This is designed to animate the GOP base, which is deeply angry at the media for, in its view, being anticonservative.
For their part, the Democrats see a big opportunity to refocus on Iraq just when the Republicans seemed to be enjoying a bit of a lift in the polls. The Democrats say the NIE report will call attention to their arguments that the president and the GOP have botched the Iraq war–and give a lift to Democratic congressional candidates across the country.
advertisement
