Bad trade

Nat Parry:

The New York Times disclosure of an official National Intelligence Estimate, which states that the Iraq invasion has worsened the global terrorist threat, carries an unspoken subtext – that the Bush administration is either woefully ignorant of how to combat terrorism or finds the terrorist threat a useful tool for managing the American public

...[A]lthough U.S. intelligence agencies now agree that the terrorist threat has ballooned due to the Iraq War, the Bush administration has found the conflict useful in simultaneously expanding its powers, abrogating constitutional rights and justifying more government secrecy.

Those trends seem likely to continue – and even accelerate – as the "war on terror" remains a powerful excuse for transforming the United States from a historically free and open society to a frightened nation where citizens eagerly trade their constitutional rights for government promises of more security.

In a related piece, Mathew Rothschild highlights some of the released portions of the NIE.

Note especially the references to "leftists" and the "anti-globalization" movement in the same breath as "terrorists." That's pretty ominous, if you ask me. Maybe not surprising, but still something that should give everyone pause.