Shock that anyone would be awed by that news.

Outside experts and rank amateurs alike had long ago concluded that the sloppy execution of the U.S. adventure in Iraq has been a dream come true for Osama bin Laden and his many supporters around the world, especially the supporters he's never met.

As reported in various newspapers over the weekend, the classified NIE, reportedly completed in April and making the rounds of those with high security clearances ever since, draws an extremely dour picture of the situation.

The small and tightly knit organization of al-Qaida is a shadow of its former self. And if you are thinking in old-fashioned military terms, as the White House and Pentagon clearly are, that's good for us and bad for them. But if you are looking realistically at the brave new world of what the wonks call "asymmetrical warfare," then Uncle Osama couldn't be happier.

The report is a consensus view of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, reportedly written without White House spin. It concludes that the Iraqi war has met terrorist aims in bogging down the American military like a slowly bleeding Gulliver, while news of Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, secret prisons and officially condoned torture only build worldwide contempt for the United States.

That contempt has spawned innumerable radical organizations, some with leaders and soldiers receiving inspiration, if not actual baptism of fire, in Iraq.

OK, criticizing the slog into Iraq is the easy part. Pundits and partisan critics may fairly be asked what they'd do now, especially as a rapid withdrawal from Iraq is widely thought to be a cure worse than the disease.

One thing is certain. As demanded Monday by a panel of retired military leaders, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and all those who managed the blundering in Baghdad must be shown the door.

They must be replaced by new but experienced hands who might have fresh ideas for victory or, failing that, be believed when they say it's time for the Americans to go.