CIA officials provide bleak assessments of Iraq

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2004

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The departing CIA station chief in Iraq and another CIA official who visited there recently presented bleak views of the situation in Iraq in classified briefings to their superiors, The New York Times said.

In a classified cable sent in late November, the CIA chief who ended a year-long tour of duty in Iraq, warned that the security situation was likely to get worse, including more violence and sectarian violence unless the Iraqi governement asserted authority and built up the economy, said officials familiar with his cable.

The CIA chief's identity was withheld, but officials described him as highly regarded within the intelligence agencies.

The CIA official who visited Iraq and then briefed officials from other US government agencies...