“Their collection methods and insight have turned the tide against Al-Qaeda in Iraq” Really? How come we haven’t heard this at all, and why did it take them so long? I’ve read pretty much every where that it was getting the Sunnis involved, Sons of Iraq, etc. combined with the surge strategy. I haven’t heard any credit given to the CIA and it makes no sense to me why they suddenly turned things around at the exact same time the political environment changed there in that the Iraqis turned on Al qeada and we sent in tens of thousands of more troops. Obviously you had a first hand perspective, but this just doesn’t make sense to me.
the CIA is upset because they have been blamed for alot:
1) they couldn’t communicate with FBI thus couldn’t see 9/11
2) they thought Iraq would be a slam dunk, but it wasn’t
3) they feel burned by this administration because Plame was outed in off-hand conversation.
Its not a negative thing, but their organization is looking for appreciation and new relevancy in an Obama administration.
As for so-called revisionist opinions on efforts in Iraq, there just isn’t enough open source material for validation here, yet.