EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Intelligence Community Predicted Trouble in Post-Saddam Iraq
Declassified reports show intel predicted violent unrest after Saddam fell.
May 24, 2007 — -- ABC News has learned new details about what the intelligence community was telling the White House before the Iraq War about the challenges that would face the United States after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
In stark contrast to the WMD fiasco, the intelligence community was largely on target about what the United States would face in postwar Iraq.
But it's not a slam dunk. In some ways, the situation in Iraq is actually worse than the intelligence community predicted.
In January 2003, the CIA's National Intelligence Council delivered to the White House two reports predicting what the United States would face in Iraq. The reports, which until now were classified, are expected to be released by the Senate Intelligence Friday.
Officials with access to the reports read excerpts to ABC News.
The first report is titled "Principal Challenges in Post-Saddam Iraq." It paints a picture of an Iraq beset by ethnic violence and unlikely to accept democracy. Here are some highlights:
