It can still be used as a scare tactic. The new prez takes office in 2009, and this says Iran could have a nuke by 2010. Also, Bush already upped the rhetoric to say that we can't have Iran having the capability to make a nuke. Nothing's changed unfortunately.
Posted by CG at December 3, 2007 01:09 PMThe Dems need to point out that this information has been available to the Bush administration since 2006 yet they have continued to mislead the American public with threats of WWIII...Impeachment...now...
Posted by Roy Batty at December 3, 2007 01:26 PMI hope you're right Steve. But cheney and his minions don't give a shit about public opinion, consequences or international law. Personally, I won't breathe a sign of relief until Jan. 2009.
Posted by Jim Faith at December 3, 2007 01:31 PMthis NIE, on further review, leaves plenty wiggle/spin room for Warmongers. As CG says above, Bush covered himself with the "capability" statement, meaning this NIE could even be used to bang the war drums louder, not silence them. That's why they allowed it to come out. It's futile trying to use reason and truth when dealing with the Bush Admin. That's not what they are about. The only interest this NIE will provoke is what Hillary, Obama, Edwards, Dodd, Biden and the rest of the Dems will have to say about it. Or did those in Congress already know what the report said?
Posted by T2 at December 3, 2007 01:42 PMI'd venture to say they've been briefed already, or at least some have.
Posted by peter at December 3, 2007 01:56 PMpeter, I think you may be correct.
Posted by T2 at December 3, 2007 02:05 PMMan, some people just keep holding on to the hope that Bush will bomb Iran so they can say "Told ya so".
Really sad.
Posted by snark at December 3, 2007 02:08 PMFrom IranAffairs.com:
Iran NIE report - Are you lying now, or were you lying then?Posted by hass at December 3, 2007 02:08 PMIf the 2005 NIE report was wrong, why should the 2007 NIE claims be any more credible? If Iran really had a nuclear weapons program until 2003 as the new NIE says, then why has the IAEA found no evidence of it?
hass - your point is well taken...we really have no basis to believe any of this.
Posted by T2 at December 3, 2007 02:18 PMReports, facts, expert conclusions, all are meaningless to a Gotterdamerung eschatological mindset.
If anyone thinks that an NIE will have the slightest effect on Cheney, they're crazy. When did he start believing the CIA again? The only question is the scope and extent of Cheney's continung power within Bushco. Is he running the show any longer or not?
The IAEA told us quite clearly that Iraq had no nuclear weapons program before the invasion. Meaningless.
No one is going to be proven right or wrong on this until very late 2008. I've said many times before I hope I'm wrong.
Posted by euzoius at December 3, 2007 02:46 PMHmmmmm...
If, in fact, Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development program in 2003....well, I just wonder what happened in 2003 to cause them to stop?
Now we know why "Deadeye" Dick had his irregular heartbeat!
Posted by Seven of Six at December 3, 2007 03:07 PMDoes anyone know what the 16 intelligence agencies are that write the NIE? I can only think of a few--we really have 16?
Posted by CG at December 3, 2007 03:45 PMGreat observation Bagley
Posted by peter at December 3, 2007 04:51 PMYes, teabagger, thanks for pointing out that Valerie Plame was outed in 2003, and a huge portion of our non-proliferation assets were forced to shut down, so we really don't know what's going on in Iran thanks to Cheney and Rove.
Posted by iamcoyote at December 3, 2007 05:28 PMCorrect, I might add!
End of discussion !
Posted by jj at December 3, 2007 05:29 PMValerie? The flea on the big dog?
Posted by jj at December 3, 2007 05:30 PM
"Hmmmmm...
If, in fact, Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development program in 2003....well, I just wonder what happened in 2003 to cause them to stop?"
Honey, it was the war next door. I-R-A-Q.
But the Repukes failed to run with the ball.
Posted by h at December 3, 2007 05:42 PMusing the "logic" of bagless bagley, pants pissing peter and jarjar jj, we should have invaded Japan to solve our North Korea problem.
Posted by gay veteran at December 3, 2007 06:20 PMJim Faith, how right you are.
Posted by Judith at December 3, 2007 06:44 PM"using the "logic" of bagless bagley, pants pissing peter and jarjar jj, we should have invaded Japan to solve our North Korea problem."
gay veteran, makes perfect sense to me.
Posted by Judith at December 3, 2007 06:54 PMYou know, I've been wondering about this story suddenly coming out, so I went back and read some of the reports from the IAEA and found some stuff about Iran's activities on the P2 centrifuge being shut down in March '03. I wonder if this is what the NIE is talking about when it says weapons programs were shut down in '03. That would make it late '03, early '04 that the world knew Iran had stopped that line of research, since that's when the IAEA first reported on it.
So. Why the hell this big announcement now, all of a sudden? It's not like they've ever released anything when asked, and it seems awfully embarrassing for the prez and Cheney.
But maybe it gets out the word that Iran had a weapons program, all the better to say they'll try again with the centrifuges they have now. It also allows them to pretend their push for sanctions and "diplomacy" has worked - as you can see, those talking points have already been distributed to the flying monkeys here. Basically, it keeps both options open for Cheney and Bush, who seems worried about his legacy in the Middle East. I dunno, I'm pretty suspicious.
Posted by iamcoyote at December 3, 2007 07:33 PMChimpyDIck owns the media. Until we do something about this, things like "facts" and "political debate" are simply parlor amusement.
Posted by Sharkbabe at December 3, 2007 07:50 PM"Dick Cheney's meds are about to be increased.
That could be really good news - he will probably be asleep all the time not just most of the time.
In 2004, Cheney talked down the Iran threat - "Iran never used WMDs like Saddam." And he opposed U.S. sanctions on Iran since it would only cost American businesses money as Iran just took their oil bucks to other nations.
I think Bush-Cheney are just fronting for Israel now, so Israel can keep a low profile for the time being. I hope Israel's intelligence estimate on Iran is the same as the NIE.
Posted by Canaan at December 3, 2007 09:55 PMWhy just the GOP? Hillary has been using Iran to show that she is a hawk and has what it takes to win the election. Infact as Glen Greenwald links, she once accused the Bush administration (of all the people) of playing down the Iranian nuclear threat.
Posted by Pete at December 4, 2007 10:52 AM