Burnt Orange Report

Stuff that in your stocking

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

Just when you thought things might be getting better (how do I know you haven't been in a cave the last two months?) the CIA has a leaked classified assessment that leaves no doubt things are pretty f****ed up in Iraq.

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.

The station chief cannot be identified because he is still working undercover, the Times added.

The cable cautioned that security in the country was likely to deteriorate unless the Iraqi government made significant progress in asserting its authority and building up the economy, the paper said.

I can't help but think maybe we need new leadership in this little endeavor, but there's Rumsfeld, sitting pretty in his post. Safe and sound rubber stamping death notices of the 1,000 soldiers killed in action and the hundreds more who have died because of friendly fire and suicide and other causes.

This is a guest post by Nate Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer/editor of Common Sense a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com