A regular TPM reader, on the Iraqi civil war:
On the Newshour, Paul Pillar nicely stated the NIE’s statement on “civil war” as civil war plus a lot of other violence.
The Bushies want to read the NIE report’s caution that civil war is inadequate as a term to mean, continuing Pillar’s arithmetic metaphor, Iraq is a civil war minus.
The report in fact says the opposite, we have a civil war plus.
I think this simple contrast, civil war minus vs. civil war plus is an effective if simplistic way of pushing back Hadley et al.’s reeking bullshit about this report.
Indeed.
Update: I should also point out this formulation from TPM Reader CH: “Regarding the 4 wars in Iraq described by the NIE: how are we to ‘win’ if, in some cases, we aren’t considered a combatant?”
