[Infowarrior] - Experts: Unclassified Report 'Pure Pablum, ' Hides Truth

[Richard Forno]

Experts: Unclassified Report 'Pure Pablum,' Hides Truth
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July 17, 2007 12:10 PM

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/07/experts-unclass.html

 Intelligence analysts and the former White House counterterror official
describe as "pure pablum" the unclassified version of the National
Intelligence Estimate released today on terror threats to the United States.

"Nothing in here is going to surprise anybody who's been following this,"
said one senior U.S. intelligence official.

"It's more about what it doesn't say than what it does say," says Richard
Clarke, the former White House official who is now an ABC News consultant.

"What is left out of the version released publicly is the explicit statement
that al Qaeda is back and has operations underway," Clarke says.

The 2006 version of the National Intelligence Estimate claimed U.S. efforts
had "seriously damaged the leadership of al-Qa'ida and disrupted its
operations."

"That's no longer the case in 2007, and you have to read between the lines
to understand how we have lost ground," Clarke says.

The current White House counterterrorism official, Fran Townsend, the
assistant to the president for homeland security, told reporters today, "Al
Qaeda is weaker today than if we had not taken strong action against them."

She said she would not address still-classified aspects of the intelligence
estimate that al Qaeda had regained strength at levels not seen since before
the 9/ll attacks.

The Blotter on ABCNews.com reported last week that senior law enforcement
and intelligence officials had "multiple and credible" reports that an al
Qaeda terror cell may be on its way to the United States or could already be
in the country.

Today's report also concludes that "al-Qa'ida will probably seek to leverage
the contacts and capabilities of al-Qa'ida in Iraq (AQI)."

"Given that there was no al Qaeda in Iraq until we invaded there," says
Clarke, "it's hard not to draw the conclusion that going to Iraq has created
a further threat to the United States."