No shit, Sherlock

"Islamic extremists are exploiting the Iraqi conflict to recruit new anti-U.S. jihadists," CIA Director Porter J. Goss told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"Our policies in the Middle East fuel Islamic resentment," Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate panel.

Could it be...the great Satan?!

And these words of confidence from Rummy:

"My job in the government is not to be the principal intelligence officer and try to rationalize differences between the Iraqis, the CIA and the DIA," Rumsfeld testified. "I see these reports. Frankly, I don't have a lot of confidence in any of them."

Appropriate, considering yesterday's warnings of an imminent attack (deja vu?):

"It may be only a matter of time before al-Qaida or other groups attempt to use chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons," Goss said at the Senate Intelligence Committee's annual hearing on threats.

And he said the best way to ensure against another attack was to approve Bush's $82 billion dollar defense budget. After all, fear is a great motivator.

"I remain very concerned about what we are not seeing," Mueller said in remarks he submitted to the senators.

Pattern recognition, anyone? Let's not get duped again.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."