Dems Blast Secret Iraq Report

A new, top-secret intelligence report asserts that conditions on the ground in Iraq have markedly improved, reports the Wall Street Journal. Only a select number of House and Senate members have seen the report, but top Democrats are already blasting the document as an effort to bolster the administration's Iraq policy ahead of testimony by Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus and others next week.

"It's much less insightful than other recent products and focuses narrowly on counter-terrorism efforts in Iraq and the progress of the Iraqi leadership," charged Rep. Jane Harman of California. It also does not include the recent flare-up in intra-Shia violence that rocked Basra. Top Democrats are angling to get the report declassified to demonstrate its shortcomings. (More Iraq stories.)