Mark Steyn On The CIA

Iraq's New Honchos Have Our Spies To Thank

There was a new report calling for reform of U.S. intelligence last week. It contradicts the last report calling for reform of U.S. intelligence. The last one wanted to centralize intelligence, which has since been done. The new one wants to decentralize intelligence. Good luck getting anyone's attention with intelligence-reform reform three weeks after the last go-round. If Sandy Berger stuffed every post-9/11 report down his pants, waddled off, cut them up in his kitchen and returned them randomly pasted together, I doubt it would make any difference.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the glass in Iraq is three-quarters full, which is why stories on the subject are buried so deep in the paper they might as well be in Sandy's gusset. Saddam's old prison state is now the first Arab country with a non-Arab head of state: a Kurd, Jalal Talabani. When you're trying to make sense of the bewildering array of Iraqi politicians who prospered in the January elections, a good rule of thumb is: Chances are they're guys who've been stiffed by the CIA. President-to-be Talabani fell out with them a decade ago, when they pulled the plug on a U.S.-backed insurrection at 48 hours' notice and failed to pay the late cancellation fee. Talabani was part of the Kurdish delegation that had a ''secret'' meeting with CIA honchos in April 2002, in which the drollest exchange came when the Kurds expressed skepticism as to whether the officials present really represented the U.S. government. - More At The Chicago Sun Times