Tuesday, December 07, 2004


Yahoo! News - CIA Paints Pessimistic Iraq Picture -- NY Times
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The situation in Iraq is unlikely to improve anytime soon, according to a classified cable and briefings from the Central Intelligence Agency, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The assessments are more pessimistic than the Bush administration's portrayal of the situation to the public, government officials told the newspaper.

The classified cable -- sent last month by the CIA's station chief in Baghdad after the completion of a one-year tour of duty there -- painted a bleak picture of Iraq's politics, economics and security and reiterated briefings by Michael Kostiw, a senior CIA official, according to the Times.

I thought we got rid of all the pessimists at the CIA?