Mark Hosenball reports on the forthcoming NIE on Iraq, expected to be released in some form to the public:

The contents of the report may have been foreshadowed in a recent series of closed-door briefings given to Congress by the Defense Intelligence Agency. The Pentagon's intelligence arm painted a scenario in which Iraq could dissolve into civil war if Iraqi security forces don't soon get their act together. One official familiar with the briefing, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive subject matter, said that the picture it painted was dire, although another official—who requested anonymity for the same reason—insisted it was not entirely despairing, since Iraqi security forces were beginning to improve.

Harper's Ken Silverstein's reporting on the fact that there had been no NIE on Iraq for more than two years prompted Congressional demands for a new one. One problem, Silverstein has reported: according to CIA sources, the Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte didn't want to order up an NIE that would declare Iraq on the verge of civil war.

Posted by Laura at September 3, 2006 01:08 PM