Crisis in Iraq is worsening: CIA

A classified cable sent by the CIA’s station chief in Baghdad has warned that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and may not reboun...

A classified cable sent by the CIA’s station chief in Baghdad has warned that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and may not rebound any time soon, according to government officials.

The cable, sent late last month as the officer ended a year-long tour, presented a bleak assessment on matters of politics, economics and security, the officials said. They said its basic conclusions had been echoed in briefings presented by a senior CIA official who recently visited Iraq.

The officials described the two assessments as having been ‘‘mixed’’, saying that they did describe Iraq as having made important progress, particularly in terms of its political process, and credited Iraqis with being resilient.

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But overall, the officials described the station chief’s cable in particular as an unvarnished assessment of the difficulties ahead in Iraq.

They said it warned that the security situation was likely to get worse, bringing more violence and sectarian clashes, unless there were marked improvements soon in the ability of the Iraqi government to assert authority and build the economy. The cable was sent to CIA headquarters after US forces completed the retaking of Falluja.

MEANWHILE

	1,000 US causalities • BAGHDAD: The number of US troops killed in action in Iraq hit 1,000 on Tuesday when the military said a soldier had been shot dead on patrol in Baghdad. Nerve gas supplier • AMSTERDAM: Police have arrested a Dutch national suspected of supplying thousands of tonnes of ingredients for mustard gas and nerve gas to Iraq under Saddam Hussein, prosecutors said on Tuesday. —Reuters