Bungling Leakers

After the selective leaking of the NIE was shown to be misrepresentative of the actual tenor of the estimates by the declassification of more sections that showed that it really warned against the Democrats' proposals to cut and run. Now, secure in the knowledge that Bush is not going to declassify more, the Dems are calling on him to declassify the whole thing. Sure, guys. Pull the other one.

But the NIE was released in April, when Zarqawi was still running Al Qaeda's efforts in Iraq. Since then, he has been bagged and the intelligence found in the rubble has been a treasure trove for our side. James Taranto notes this report of a letter from Al Qaeda found in Zarqawis house "complaining that the terrorist organization was losing ground in Iraq and Afghanistan." In other woreds, the Intelligence Estimate might be far different in light of the killing of Zarqawi.