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", the <i>New York Times</i> reported Tuesday, citing government officials.
The newspaper, citing the officials, said that the cable, sent last month as the officer ended a one-year tour-of-duty in the country, presented a "bleak assessment on matters of politics, economics and security".
They said its basic conclusions had been echoed in briefings presented by a top CIA official who recently visited Iraq.
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, including more violence and sectarian clashes, unless there were marked improvements soon on the part of the Iraqi government, in terms of its ability to assert authority and to build the economy".
