CIA director told group 'Iraq unable to govern' Will Menaker

Published: Thursday July 12, 2007 Print This Email This In an article in Thursday's Washington Post, Bob Woodward reports that in late 2006, CIA director Michael Hayden briefed members of the Iraq Study Group that the Iraqi government was irreversibly damaged and that he could not "point to any milestone or checkpoint where we can turn this thing around." This stands in stark contrast with President Bush's public statements of progress in Iraq, but also his private assessment of what one member of the ISG called a "Churchillian vision of victory" in Iraq. Hayden's bleak analysis came one week after the Democrats took back control of the House, and was a "pivotal moment" for in the ISG's deliberations, and their conclusion that the situation in Iraq is "grave and deteriorating." Hayden told the group's members point blank, "The government is unable to govern. We have spent a lot of energy and treasure creating a government that is balanced, and it cannot function." The article also states that in her appearance before the ISG, Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice was asked by former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whether she was aware of the CIA's analysis of Iraq. Rice responded, "We are aware of the dark assessment,' but quickly added: 'It is not without hope." The CIA was quick to respond to Woodward's piece, saying it "is not an accurate reflection of what Director Hayden said at that meeting, nor does it reflect his view, then or now." In the eight months since the closed-door ISG meeting, neither Hayden or any other Bush administration official has spoken of Iraq in anywhere near the same stark terms as this CIA analysis. Read the whole article here.



