Crimanal probe of leak of "choas" slide to NY Times

Fox News:

The Pentagon is looking into how classified information indicating Iraq is moving closer to chaos wound up on the front page of Wednesday's New York Times, and is not ruling out an investigation that could lead to criminal charges.

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for operations in Iraq, confirmed to FOX News that a chart published in The Times is a real reflection of the thinking of military intelligence on the situation in Iraq as of Oct. 18, adding that an effort is underway to find out who leaked the chart and if the breach of operational security constitutes a crime.

The published report includes a classified one-page slide show from an Oct. 18 military briefing. The slide show is titled: “Iraq: Indications and Warnings of Civil Conflict,” and shows spiraling violence in Iraq and a worsening position for American efforts.

Based on the slide show, Iraq is moving sharply away from "peace," designated in green on the left side of the chart, to a point much closer to the red-zoned right side of the spectrum, marked “chaos.”

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The New York Times had not yet responded to a request for comment by FOX News about how it obtained the chart, but a spokeswoman for the newspaper said it will.

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Projections are always based on assumptions. The validity of assumptions is always subject to challenge. That is why in financial reports there is always a disclaimer that the actual results can be very different. Whoever supplied this graphic to the NY times is a loser who wants the US to lose and he gave the graphic to a paper that wants the US to lose in Iraq. Another graph could also chart enemy surges in Iraq and their lack of ability to sustain them. We have recently finished one of those surges where the enemy failed in achieving its objectives in Iraq. Whether it will achieve them in the US may be decided by those who want to lose.