2005 Year in Review

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CIA Report: Iraq is a training ground for terrorists

The Bush administration says that the US is fighting the terrorists in Iraq so that it doesn't have to fight them here in the United States A new report by the CIA's think tank says that Iraq is a "training ground for the next generation of professionalized terrorists."

The report, by the National Intelligence Council, concludes that:

Iraq provides terrorists with "a training ground, a recruitment ground, the opportunity for enhancing technical skills," said David B. Low, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats. "There is even, under the best scenario, over time, the likelihood that some of the jihadists who are not killed there will, in a sense, go home, wherever home is, and will therefore disperse to various other countries."

So, the US is spending $200 billion dollars.

Over 1300 American troups have died.

Over 10,000 US soldiers have been wounded.

Relations with the rest of the world have been strained.

It is estimated that over 100,000 Iraqis have died.

The US is less safe from terrorism.

And the US just eliminated the primary justification for the war, announcing that the futile search for the weapons of mass destruction is over.

Why, again, was this a good idea?

by John Legler, Guest Columnist
January 14, 2005