Facts, Lies, Statistics and NIEs  The big news on the defense
and foreign policy front is the release earlier today of the
National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq, an unclassified
summary of which is now available online (.pdf). Congressional
staff are poring over a much longer (90-page), classified
version. President Bush was presented with a copy of the full
report yesterday.  National Security Adviser Stephen
Hadley discussed the NIE with reporters, characterizing the
report as “a good statement about the risks if we do not succeed
in Iraq, for Iraqis, for the region, and for Americans here at
home.” (Count this as Exhibit A for the defense.)   Bloggers
immediately pounced on the report to make the counterpoint,
namely that the Bush administration’s escalation plan — by the
NIE’s own admission — couldn’t possibly work (Exhibit B for the
prosecution).  The near-instantaneous interpretation of a key
intelligence assessment is hardly a new phenomenon. As I explain
in my book John F. Kennedy and the Missi