Group Offers Bush Bleak Iraq Assessment

[Jon8503]

Cannot believe out of over a 1000 votes this is only getting a 2.9 on Yahoo. I think we should take it to a 5.

WASHINGTON - The National Intelligence Council presented President Bush (news - web sites) this summer with three pessimistic scenarios regarding the security situation in Iraq (news - web sites), including the possibility of a civil war there before the end of 2005.

In a highly classified National Intelligence Estimate, the council looked at the political, economic and security situation in the wartorn country and determined that — at best — a tenuous stability was possible, a U.S. official said late Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The document lays out a second scenario in which increased extremism and fragmentation in Iraqi society impede efforts to build a central government and adversely affect efforts to democratize the country.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040916/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq