The French Riots and the CIA

Given the fact that France has been in a constant state of riot for nearly half a month - I found this description of France from the CIA World Handbook well - funny (emphasis added):

Although ultimately a victor in World Wars I and II, France suffered extensive losses in its empire, wealth, manpower, and rank as a dominant nation-state. Nevertheless, France today is one of the most modern countries in the world and is a leader among European nations. Since 1958, it has constructed a presidential democracy resistant to the instabilities experienced in earlier parliamentary democracies. In recent years, its reconciliation and cooperation with Germany have proved central to the economic integration of Europe, including the introduction of a common exchange currency, the euro, in January 1999. At present, France is at the forefront of efforts to develop the EU's military capabilities to supplement progress toward an EU foreign policy.

Excuse me but wouldn't 13 straight nights (and counting) of riots throughout France constitute instability? Wouldn't you have to go back to the French Revolution to find that many riots in France? France is proving as resistant to instability as I am to cold free beer.

French military capabilities? Someone at the CIA had to have snuck this in as a joke. Yeah the French have a really capable military (as long as Green Peace is the opponent).

I also found it interesting that in a country of 60 million people that the CIA is able to nail their estimate for the number of Muslims in France down to 5-10% of the population. That means the CIA can be off by as many as 3 million Muslims. Nice accurate accounting from the folks in Langley.

Oh and don't say that maybe the report is just dated. The last update to the information was made on November 1, 2005 (that would have been day 6 of the riots).

I have to say that if the public information from the CIA World Handbook is any illustration of the quality of the CIA information in general then our intelligence community is in real trouble. Where's Jack Ryan when you need him?