Iran still a threat - even though not a threat

[andrewlittle]

A recently declassified intelligence report from 16 U.S. intelligence agencies says that Iran stopped working on nuclear weapons in 2003. I have not found any data on when the report was originally issued, just that it was recently declassified. Is this starting to ring a bell with anyone.

Now Bush's reaction was predictable. He said that this new report was a warning signal (WTF) and that Iran could restart its weapons program.

So, I guess, even though Iran isn't currently making weapons of mass destruction, but could at some point work on it (even though the report says they would be several years away even if they did start again), Iran must now be a bigger threat than when we said they were in fact making weapons of mass destruction.

No wonder I'm not a foreign relations expert - I would have thought that this was good news and that we might have to admit we were hurtling towards windmills again.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7127198.stm

[ladyinred]

Andrew, I just love you... LOL You may not be a foreign relations expert but you are still one smart cookie

[ladyinred]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/04/5117/

[dsdrane]

...it's that the current administration has no use of actual facts.

[Daniel]

I was at home and watched the Pres' statement in real time. Made me laugh and shake my head. More of the same. Turning the truth upside down.

I'm sorry...but I think the man is a fool who's fool enough to try to fool the rest of us. But you know what? You can only cry wolf once.

[kara speltz]

What amazes me about this latest misuse of "intelligence," is that anyone ever believes anything that comes out of the man's mouth. And congratulations to the reporter who made the connection between WMD and the Iranian situation. I'll bet she never gets invited back to any press conference. And it seems to me that the Democrats are being pretty quiet about all this. How long to we allow the government to lie and manipulate this country into war after war after war?

[ladyinred]

I saw a PBS special on Cheney , who was said to suppress intelligence on Iraq to support the Iraq war(they had reported doubts about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction among other things), it seems he is at again doing the same thing with Iran, Censorship to say the least.

[ladyinred]

This was taken fro the Vets for common sense website:ithout Charges



News Archives




December 9, 2007 - "Merry Christmas, Mr. President," hissed the men in cloaks as they plunged a dagger into George Bush's back.

America's spooks finally had their revenge. After being forced by the White House in 2002-03 to concoct a farrago of lies about Iraq, and then take the blame for the ensuing fiasco there, the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies struck back this week.

U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell made public a bombshell National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report that concluded "with high confidence" Tehran had halted its rudimentary nuclear weapons program in 2003.

If restarted, Iran is unlikely to produce any weapons before 2015.

The new NIE is a devastating, humiliating blow to Bush, Dick Cheney and the neocons who have been fulminating for war against Iran. Only two months ago, Bush warned Americans that Iran's secret nuclear program threatened to ignite World War III.

A 2005 NIE report that billed Iran as a major nuclear threat was based on fabricated evidence supplied to the CIA, just like the bogus Niger uranium story used to justify war against Iraq. Who, one wonders, is behind this disinformation?

Bush was given the new NIE on Iran last August. But for the past four months, Bush, Cheney and Condoleezza Rice have been beating the war drums over Iran when their own massed intelligence agencies have been telling them there was no danger from that country. The White House hid its own intelligence community's findings from the public until the spooks threatened to leak the report.

AHMADINEJAD TRUTHFUL

Ironically, Iran's leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was telling the truth all along when he said Iran was not working on nuclear arms, while Bush & Company were lying through their teeth, just as they have over Iraq and Afghanistan.

This column has been reporting for two years the growing opposition at the CIA, the Pentagon, and the State Department to Bush/Cheney's plans to launch a war against Iran. I repeatedly heard the term "fifth column" used to describe the fanatical neocon ideologues pressing America into a second Mideast war.

Now, America's national security community is telling the White House to cease and desist before it drags the nation into another foreign catastrophe. While not a coup as in "Seven Days in May," it was the next closest thing.

At the heart of this drama lies the disturbing fact that Bush/Cheney & Co. were simply ignoring their own $40-billion-plus-a-year intelligence community.

TRY ANOTHER SOURCE

When the White House didn't get the answers it wanted on Iran, it turned to Israel, whose renowned intelligence agency, Mossad, became a primary source. Mossad still insists Iran will have a nuclear bomb by 2008.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak declared the NIE report a "blow to the groin." Israel has been straining every sinew to get the U.S. to destroy Iran's growing nuclear infrastructure. Whether Israel, which has a large nuclear arsenal, will attack Iran on its own is uncertain.

This is the final disgrace for Bush & Cheney. Their war propaganda and efforts to suppress the new NIE should constitute grounds for immediate impeachment.

If Bill Clinton could be impeached for lying about oral sex, shouldn't Bush and Cheney face trial for attempting to lie and deceive Americans into yet another war of aggression? Alas, Congress, many of whose members also have been howling for war against Iran, lacks the guts for such action.

CONFIRMED

America's intelligence has been lousy in the past, and might be wrong again. But UN nuclear inspectors confirm the U.S. findings.

So does SVR, Russia's intelligence agency. Iran's civilian nuclear power program eventually could produce highly enriched uranium for weapons, but there is no sign of Iran developing any long-range delivery capability.

The NIE is likely to release Iran from U.S.-imposed isolation, and undermine the anti-Iran coalition the U.S. was assembling.

It should put the kibosh on Bush's idiotic plans for an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Sanity is slowly returning to Washington.

Finally intelligence has stood up against Bush and Cheney,exposing the lies. At least they have scruples.... They are doing our country a big favor if they can help prevent another war that wasn't based on the "facts" Note Cheney suppressed intelliegence on Iraq as well.If someone is to be held responsible it shouldn't be some "fall guy" but the people at top who were directly responsible for suppressing intelligence reports and data. As I said before ,NEVER trust a politician who is all to eager to lead our country into a war. We certainly don't want to put our troops in harm's way unnecessarily over a war that could have been avoided or wasn't really justified in the first place.

[Emproph]

Originally Posted by andrewlittle

So, I guess, even though Iran isn't currently making weapons of mass destruction, but could at some point work on it (even though the report says they would be several years away even if they did start again), Iran must now be a bigger threat than when we said they were in fact making weapons of mass destruction.

From The Onion:

Iran

A Possible Likely Threat To The Free World, Maybe

With evidence pointing conclusively to Iran either possessing or not possessing nuclear weapons, this Middle Eastern nation could potentially be poised to possibly launch a full-scale attack on the Western world. Perhaps.

[ladyinred]

I read the onion, I know the humor is a bit" irreverent", but alot of the stuff is funny.