I ask the question: "Is such an outcome likely? Was it ever likely? If its not likely, and not going to happen, how do you ask someone 'to be the last man to die for a mistake?'"

The idea that a withdrawal from Iraq will encourage Jihadists is probably correct. But it will also leave them without Americans conveniently located to kill . . . and one suspects that in our absence, they and their neighbors will revert to their traditional passtime: killing each other.

Which would not, for us, be such a bad thing.

Statement by the Director of National Intelligence, John D. Negroponte, in response to news reports about the National Intelligence Estimate on Trends in Global Terrorism

"A National Intelligence Estimate is a comprehensive assessment comprised of a series of judgments which are based on the best intelligence our government develops. Characterizing only a small handful of those judgments distorts the broad strategic framework the NIE is assessing . in this case, trends in global terrorism.

"Although the NIE on Global Terrorism is still a classified document, I and other senior intelligence officials have spoken publicly, and in a way consistent with the NIE’s comprehensive assessment, about the challenges and successes we have had in the Global War on Terror. What we have said, time and again, is that while there is much that remains to be done in the war on terror, we have achieved some notable successes against the global jihadist threat.

"We have eliminated much of the leadership that presided over al Qaeda -- our top global terror concern . in 2001, and U.S.-led counterterrorism efforts continued to disrupt its operations, remove its leaders and deplete its cadre. The Estimate highlights the importance of the outcome in Iraq on the future of global jihadism, judging that should the Iraqi people prevail in establishing a stable political
and security environment, the jihadists will be perceived to have failed and fewer jihadists will leave Iraq determined to carry on the fight elsewhere.

"Those statements do nothing to undermine the assessment that we have an enormous and constantly mutating struggle before us in the long war on terror. They simply demonstrate that the conclusions of the Intelligence Community are designed to be comprehensive and viewing them through the narrow prism of a fraction of judgments distorts the broad framework they create."

The address for the actual pdf file is: http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20060924_release.pdf

Now after readingthis, how on earth did the reporters get the information SO wrong?
Makes one wonder doesn't it?

A calssified report says that the Iraq War has worsened the threat of terrorism and has spawned more terrorists and helped terrorists in recruiting. I am sure that im some weays this is true, but not to the extent that...

The terrorist recruitment bases have existed for a long time. Closing some down will cause some to flush out and an increase in recruitment efforts. In the long run it will be good to close down these bases. To stick our heads in the ground again will only prolong and increased the problem while only giving maybe a temporary short term relief. More likely, it will only encourage them more.

Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Hurting U.S. Terror Fight
The war in Iraq has become a primary recruitment vehicle for violent Islamic extremists, motivating a new generation of potential terrorists around the world whose numbers may be increasing faster tha...

"Why should we listen to anything these guys have to say now, after they've been so utterly and completely wrong on a matter of such importance?"

But, of course, you can't ask that question, since you're beholden to the Republicans. Too bad.

There's lots of yapping over leaked portions of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that the Iraq War has inspired......

You don't have a clue of a clue of what policy I advocate. The best you can do is parrot warmed over admin crap about "appeasement" & "Islamofascists". You are a perfect sap, blindly advancing Bush & Cheney's policy, if you want to even dignify it by calling it policy.

One would be remiss for failing to note that these are the same intelligence agencies who failed to predict the Iranian Revolution, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the war in the Balkans, Pakistan’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, North Korea’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, the 9/11 attacks, London bombings, Madrid bombings, and other major events. Or that they opposed the Iraq War to begin with and that this finding vindicates their position.

I am curious as to how you see “emboldened” terrorists. I mean, they attacked New York City and the pentagon… exactly how much more bold could they be?

Well, keep advocating the policy you have been, and I've no doubt you'll get the answer to that question.
Precisely, wherein lies the point. Also there's the political motivations of someone making the argument to consider.

Still, there’s not much doubt about the broad conclusion here. Michael Scheuer argued in Imperial Hubris that fomenting an American-led invasion of an Arab Muslim country was beyond Osama bin Laden’s wildest dreams when he launched the 9/11 attacks. Al Qaeda was hoping for a second rallying event like the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to gin up enthusiasm for the cause and turn latent anti-Western hostility into more troops for the cause. Others made similar arguments and few doubted that as a likely effect.

And yet nobody seems to be mentioning that Islam of fascism as a whole was growing by leaps and bounds prior to our response to 9/11... prior to our invading Iraq.

And what did we have prior to those times? We had the Clinton administration basically ignoring Islam of fascists. Oh, the occasional arrest, or the occasional lobbing of a missile at a target. But never, never, never, any concerted effort to control the Entremists.

Which brought us to 9/11.

I have to suppose that, in context, JJ means "before the invasion."

The world needs to say, in one voice, that terrorism will NOT be accepted as a means of warfare

That's not going to happen. The next step is to start weighing the costs of particular actions against their benefits. Iraq was a loser on that count, so let's be sure to weigh appropriately next time.