open Democracy News Analysis - Intelligence blow to Bush, - Comments

KVB Tharoor on "Intelligence blow to Bush"

KVB Tharoor — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:39:50 +0000

This NIE is more trustworthy than previous iterations. There's a difference in nature and scale between trying to prove the existence of weapons and weapons programs (as the 2002 and 2005 NIEs did) and admitting that there isn't a functioning weapons program in Iran; the former is hopeful, the latter is realistic. It also should be noted that while the 2002 and 2005 NIEs were cushioned along by the administration, this NIE was initially suppressed (if we are to believe Seymour Hersh) and had to endure the stern protests of the likes of Cheney. Call me cynical, but the mere fact that this NIE contradicts the Bush administration's foreign policy agenda makes it more credible in my eyes.

HarryChess on "Intelligence blow to Bush"

HarryChess — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:39:54 +0000

So if to be believed, this NIE shows that Iran abandoned weapons development in 2003,,, And we also know that Lybia abandoned it's nuclear research, also post the invasion of Iraq. A coincidence perhaps? Careful, you might be promoting a benefit of the Iraq invasion...,,, for IF the NIE is true, the timing of Iran's abandonment cannot be ignored

But is this NIE to be beleived? Why? Is this not the same Bush administration whose intelligence agencies who said that Saddam had WMD? or are we chosing which we beleive because it fits our agenda?

Intelligence blow to Bush,

terrorism.openDemocracy — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:42:36 +0000

Major foreign policy blow for Bush

The newly released National Intelligence Estimate compiled by 16 American intelligence agencies has jolted the Bush administration's hawkish position on Iran. Contradicting its 2005 iteration, this year's NIE claims that Iran froze its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and that current uranium enrichment is not geared towards the eventual production of nuclear weapons. The estimate also insists that the Iranian government is not an irrational actor hell-bent on a nuclear arsenal, but instead, is proceeding on the basis of a calculated "cost-benefits approach" susceptible to international scrutiny and pressure.

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