To the discomfort of intel insiders, quotes from these reports have become fodder for administration friends and foes. Robert Hutchings, former chairman of the panel that produces the documents, told NEWSWEEK that NIEs were never intended as “report cards” on White House policies. Hutchings is concerned that experts who write the reports, knowing they’ll be made public, now factor “political impact” into assessments. As a report card, the latest Iraq NIE is pretty grim. It says violence remains high, and Al Qaeda in Iraq still can conduct “high-profile attacks.” The NIE’s authors grade Iraq’s government as only a notch above failure, predicting its position will “become more precarious” still. On the other hand, the new NIE says that counterinsurgency operations by U.S. and Iraqi forces have “checked” the escalation of violence. The report also suggests that any move now to scale back U.S. troops from frontline fighting would “erode” recent security gains; administration supporters cited this comment as validation of the current surge strategy.
