Blaming the victims: U.S. occupation at root of violence in Iraq

The Bush administration released on Feb. 1 a vile four-page summary of a longer classified report on Iraq called the National Intelligence Estimate. Prepared by 16 U.S. intelligence agencies active there, the summary described the situation in Iraq as going from bad to worse. That conclusion is probably the only statement in the report that is true. The rest, prepared by the same spy agencies that in 2002 backed up all the Bush administration's false claims of "weapons of mass destruction" and Iraq's "links to terrorism," is a series of distortions and slanders of the Iraqis. With unintentional irony it suggests that the Pentagon, which brought "shock and awe" to Iraq, now has to stay to pacify the Iraqis, who are plagued with a genetic or cultural "ready recourse to violence."

Full pdf IAC leaflet