A latest US intelligence report reveals a growing dangerous
situation in Iraq, which is nearly out of US control and risks
further deterioration, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Still, the long-awaited National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on
Iraq, which was presented to US President George W. Bush by the
intelligence community on Thursday, made no conclusion and holds
out prospects of improvement, according to the report.
However, it couches optimism in deep uncertainty about whether
Iraqi leaders will be able to transcend sectarian interests and
fight against extremists, establish effective national institutions
and end rampant corruption.
The document said that although al Qaida remains a problem in
Iraq, it has been surpassed by Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence as the
primary source of conflict and the most immediate threat to US
goals.
Iran, which the administration has charged with supplying and
directing Iraqi extremists, is mentioned but is not a focus.
Completion of the estimate, which projects events in Iraq over
the next 18 months, comes amid intensifying debate and skepticism
among US lawmakers about Bush's war policy.
In a series of contentious hearings over the past two weeks,
legislators have sharply questioned the president's new plan for
the deployment of 21,500 additional US troops and the
administration's dependence on the government of Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2007)
