no one should be surprised

the outlook is 'grim'. no, we're not talking about the economy or global warming or iraq or the victims of natural disasters or the lack of health care (what was it...hmmm.....LET THEM EAT CAKE!!! but remember what happened to her that said it)

it's afghanistan.


and NO ONE should be surprised the real story won't be released until AFTER the election.

please someone who is planning on voting for mccain / palevil PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave one tiny iddy biddy comment and tell me why. i just have to know

'Grim' Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US

No Plans to Declassify" New National Intelligence Estimate for White House

By BRIAN ROSS

US intelligence analysts are putting the final touches on a secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Afghanistan that reportedly describes the situation as "grim", but there are "no plans to declassify" any of it before the election, according to one US official familiar with the process.

Officials say a draft of the classified NIE, representing the key judgments of the US intelligence community's 17 agencies and departments, is being circulated in Washington and a final "coordination meeting" of the agencies involved, under the direction of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is scheduled in the next few weeks.

According to people who have been briefed, the NIE will paint a "grim" picture of the situation in Afghanistan, seven years after the US invaded in an effort to dismantle the al Qaeda network and its Taliban protectors.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Vanee Vines, said "it is not the ODNI's policy to publicly comment on national intelligence products that may or may not be in production."

The finished secret NIE would be sent to the White House and other policy makers.

Mike McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, has made it his policy that such key judgments "should not be declassified", although several have recently, including a report on Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"That does not portend that this is going to become a standard practice," McConnell said it a guidance memo last year.

Seth Jones, an expert on Afghanistan at the Rand Corporation think tank, called the situation in Afghanistan "dire.".......