Kinda Backfired, Huh

So after the reports this weekend summarizing the conclusions of the classified NIE, George decides to unclassify portions of it. Via AmericaBlog, it certainly wasn't the most astute political move he and Karl have ever made. NYTimes (09.27.06):

"Three years ago, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld wrote a memo to his colleagues in the Pentagon posing a critical question in the 'long war' against terrorism: Is Washington’s strategy successfully killing or capturing terrorists faster than new enemies are being created? Until Tuesday, the government had not publicly issued an authoritative answer. But the newly declassified National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism does exactly that, and it concludes that the administration has failed the Rumsfeld test." Waging the War on Terror: Report Belies Optimistic View

"Portions of the report appear to bolster President Bush’s argument that the only way to defeat the terrorists is to keep unrelenting military pressure on them. But nowhere in the assessment is any evidence to support Mr. Bush’s confident-sounding assertion this month in Atlanta that 'America is winning the war on terror.'" LATimes (09.27.06):

"(T)he thrust of the report's 'key judgments' is that the terrorist danger is morphing and growing and that the Iraq war is a major contributing force in that trend. 'We assess that the Iraq jihad is shaping a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives,' reads one of the main conclusions of the report." Bush Goes Public With Terror Study

"'The Iraq conflict has become the 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.'"