It was reported today in the LA Times, that U.S. Intellegence officials are now reversing their previously staunch position regarding the infamous 2007 N.I.E report which claimed that Iran had halted all work on nuclear bombs in 2003. It seems that they now believe that Iran will reach “developmental milestones” this year!
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U.S. now sees Iran as pursuing nuclear bomb
In a reversal since a 2007 report, U.S. officials expect the Islamic Republic to reach development milestones this year.
Reporting from Washington — Little more than a year after U.S. spy agencies concluded that Iran had halted work on a nuclear weapon, the Obama administration has made it clear that it believes there is no question that Tehran is seeking the bomb.
In his news conference this week, President Obama went so far as to describe Iran’s “development of a nuclear weapon” before correcting himself to refer to its “pursuit” of weapons capability.
Obama’s nominee to serve as CIA director, Leon E. Panetta, left little doubt about his view last week when he testified on Capitol Hill. “From all the information I’ve seen,” Panetta said, “I think there is no question that they are seeking that capability.”
The language reflects the extent to which senior U.S. officials now discount a National Intelligence Estimate issued in November 2007 that was instrumental in derailing U.S. and European efforts to pressure Iran to shut down its nuclear program.
As the administration moves toward talks with Iran, Obama appears to be sending a signal that the United States will not be drawn into a debate over Iran’s intent.
“When you’re talking about negotiations in Iran, it is dangerous to appear weak or naive,” said Joseph Cirincione, a nuclear weapons expert and president of the Ploughshares Fund, an anti-proliferation organization based in Washington.
Cirincione said the unequivocal language also worked to Obama’s political advantage. “It guards against criticism from the right that the administration is underestimating Iran,” he said.
Iran has long maintained that it aims to generate electricity, not build bombs, with nuclear power. But Western intelligence officials and nuclear experts increasingly view those claims as implausible.
U.S. officials said that although no new evidence had surfaced to undercut the findings of the 2007 estimate, there was growing consensus that it provided a misleading picture and that the country was poised to reach crucial bomb-making milestones this year.
Obama’s top intelligence official, Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence, is expected to address mounting concerns over Iran’s nuclear program in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee today.
{The Rest of The Article}
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It is best summed up by Carl In Jerusalem:
Am I the only one who is wondering whether someone tried to sabotage the Bush administration’s ability to take action against Iran? Why?
The NIE was criticized from the day it came out. Some speculated that it was issued to facilitate a rapprochement with the Iranians at Israel’s expense. Others claimed the CIA had been hoodwinked into issuing the report. Even the US’s senior intelligence officers retreated from it. But the retreat had little effect. Despite specific intelligence presented by Israel, the Bush administration no longer had a military option. And it wouldn’t let Israel have one either.
Now that there’s a new administration in power, whose goal is ‘discussions’ with Iran and not force, the NIE is being discarded into the dustbins of history. Anyone else smell a rat here?
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This should be a very interesting development insofar that the MSM, and liberal establishment jumped all over the 2007 N.I.E. report to call President Bush a “war monger”, etc., embarrass him, and otherwise make it impossible for him to take military action against Iran. Now, although no actual new evidence has been put forth, those same people, now working under the Obama administration, are very quickly backing away from the 2007 report. At best, it was a mistake; at worst they put the entire security and safety of the United States at risk, and played nuclear Russian roulette just to score political points.
