Spawning terrorism.

Byline: The Register-Guard

President Bush says critics who believe that the Iraq war has fueled Islamic extremism and increased the threat of terrorism are naive and ill-informed.

That seems a more fitting description of the dwindling number of Americans who still believe the Bush administration's claim that the U.S. war in Iraq has made America safer from terrorism and that, one of the president's most cherished lines, "We're fighting over there so we don't have to fight over here."

Bush's finger-pointing assessment runs starkly counter to a new report from the nation's 16 intelligence agencies, which concludes that the administration's war in Iraq is fanning the flames of Islamic extremism around the world. The analysis by the National Intelligence Council says the war that Bush now claims was intended to eliminate terrorists has instead become a fertile spawning ground for new ter- rorists.

"The Iraq conflict has become a 'cause celebre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement," the report concludes.

The report is remarkable both for its candor and for its origins. It reflects the consensus of the nation's intelligence agencies, which are overseen not by anti-war activists or Democratic opportunists, but by officials appointed by the Bush White House.

There no longer can be any doubt that the Bush administration has misled Americans at every step along the disastrous downhill path that has been the Iraq war.

First, Americans were warned that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that he was preparing to hand over to his comrades in al-Qaeda. After the invasion, it became clear that there were no WMDs and that there were no prewar ties between Saddam and al-Qaeda.

Now, it's just as clear that the administration's latest justification for the war - that it's the central front in a successful offensive against global terrorism - is no closer to the truth. Worse, it's calculated to ensure that Republicans retain control of Congress in the November elections by convincing voters that Bush and his congressional allies are best equipped to handle the war against terror.

Bush claims that portions of the report were selectively leaked for political purposes and says that the report in its entirety refutes any suggestion that "going into Iraq was a mistake." The best way for the president to prove that is to declassify the entire document, not just the few portions the have been leaked or that he has ordered to be released so far.

Instead of continuing to cling to false justifications for the war, Bush should acknowledge that it has not made America safer from terrorism - and that the time has come to begin planning the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and to chart a new and more effective course in the war on terror.