I would just like to point out that the New York Times appears to have doctored the slide referred to in this brilliantly well-timed bit of election propaganda by removing the classification markings which are invariably found at the top and bottom of these slide (even when they are unclassified — and this one was classified, as Central Command has already confirmed). I want to know whether there is any level of national secret the Times is not willing to betray for the political advantage of its pet causes. And I would like to know what else they may have doctored on the slide.
And while we’re at it, I would love to understand why the law doesn’t prohibit the propagation of strategic national secrets in wartime — which has always been understood as treason.
A slide titled “Iraq: Indications and Warnings of Civil Conflict” lists factors that are destabilizing Iraq.