Drumbeat for War against Iran - December 2007
100. China to support Third Round of Sanctions against Iran? - December 03, 2007.
"China has for the first time indicated clear support for a new package of United Nations sanctions against Iran, breaking months of deadlock inside the UN security council over how to respond to Tehran's nuclear programme. In a move that will boost expectations in western capitals that a new UN sanctions resolution could be agreed within weeks, Beijing signalled over the weekend that it was prepared to back measures that will hit Iran's banking and business sector, while also prohibiting more senior Iranians from travelling abroad." (James Blitz, Mure Dickie, and Daniel Dombey ‘Beijing backs fresh sanctions against Iran’ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca10edbc-a141-11dc-9f34-0000779fd2ac.html December 03, 2007).
M k bhadrakumar suspects america might be willing to toughen its stance against taiwan if china toughens its stance against iran. "What pleased Beijing immensely was that what Negroponte did after his arrival in Beijing on Wednesday was to hold a press conference in the US Embassy in Beijing, where he proceeded to categorically denounce Taiwan's planned referendum on UN membership as "provocative" and "a mistake". Negroponte explained that the US understood Taiwan was a core issue for China, and Washington takes China's concerns seriously. Therefore, he continued, "It's not something we will want to talk about as a 'trade-off' with other issues." Indeed, the battle-scarred veteran diplomat knew perfectly well the worth of the gesture that Washington is making at a juncture when the Taiwan problem is fraught with uncertainties. He hinted precisely that Washington expected a quid pro quo from Beijing on issues of core concern to it. The government newspaper China Daily acknowledged that Washington was signaling that "it is willing to use its influence to contain secessionist moves" in Taiwan." (M K Bhadrakumar ‘US woos a partner over Iran’ http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JA23Df02.html January 23, 2008).
101. Publication of National Intelligence Estimate on Iran - December 03, 2007.
Quite unexpectedly, america’s intelligence community decided to publish its national intelligence estimate on iran.
The NIE Statement.
Hadley’s Statement.
"The IC has high confidence, high confidence, that Iran had a covert nuclear weapons program that it has never acknowledged and continues to deny. The intelligence community has high confidence that Iran halted its covert nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003. And they have moderate confidence that it had not restarted that program as of mid-2007." (Press Briefing by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley quoted in Juan Cole ‘Did an Iranian Spy Clear Tehran of Nuclear Ambitions?’ http://www.juancole.com/2007_12_01_juanricole_archive.html December 04, 2007).
Juan Cole’s Thesis.
"The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran says that Iran did have a nuclear weapons research program until early 2003, but then dismantled it. There is now a high level of confidence that Iran is no longer seeking nuclear weapons. This finding reverses numerous statements of George W. Bush to the effect that Iran is frantically trying to get a nuke. So what convinced the US intelligence community that Iran's weapons program was long ago dismantled? Very likely, one name: Ali Reza Asghari. If the decisive evidence for the lack of any nuclear weapons program in Iran was the documents Asghari spirited out when he defected last winter, then the US intelligence community has had this information for at least 6 months. So why has the Bush administration continued to rattle sabers at Iran all this time. Cheney and Bush have probably known since at least April that Iran has no weapons program." (Juan Cole ‘Did an Iranian Spy Clear Tehran of Nuclear Ambitions?’ http://www.juancole.com/2007_12_01_juanricole_archive.html December 04, 2007).
Response of the Bush Regime.
Robert Scheer points out that Bush won’t accept the NIE.
"Even if Bush read the NIE report, he clearly doesn’t respect it, for at his press conference he said "the NIE doesn’t do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world, quite the contrary." Not that he has anything against the NIE, whose directors he handpicked. "I want to compliment the intelligence community for their good work. Right after the failure of intelligence in Iraq, we reformed the intelligence community." But whether or not the intelligence agencies are reformed, the president still ignores them. He didn’t listen when they told him he was wrong in claiming that Iraq had purchased yellow cake uranium from Niger and he doesn’t listen now when they tell him his alarms about Iran are without factual foundation. The difference this time around is that because Bush is a discredited lame duck the intelligence chiefs were a bit more forthcoming with their findings in a report that has, in part, been made available to the public." (Robert Scheer ‘It Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One’ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071204_it_turns_out_ahmadinejad_is_honest/ December 4, 2007).
Bush carries on about Iran regardless of the NIE.
"President Bush refused to rule out a military strike against Iran Tuesday, though he confirmed the latest National Intelligence Estimate showed the Islamic state had halted a weapons program. "Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon," he said at the White House. "What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program?"" (Richard Allen Greene ‘Bush refuses to rule out Iran strike’ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7173.html December 04, 2007).
Ray McGovern believes Bush wants to press on for the sake of the Jews-only State.
"Judging from President George W. Bush’s words and body language he is far from giving up on ways to "justify" attacking Iran’s nuclear program, weapons-related or not. He appears convinced he must honor the pledge he has made to Israel’s current leaders to eliminate what they have called an "existential threat" to Israel. This came through in a particularly pointed way when an agitated president ad-libbed about the possibility of World War III, complaining loudly, "We’ve got a leader in Iran who has announced he wants to destroy Israel."" (Ray McGovern ‘Bush Spins Iran's Centrifuges’ http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=12026 December 8, 2007).
Rice continues global efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring Nuclear Weapons even though the NIE states it doesn’t have a Nuclear Weapons Programme.
Despite the publication of the nie, rice continues trying to rally the world against iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons programme! Under pressure from its jewish masters not to change course, the bush regime believes it can continue to sustain the fabrication that iran has a nuclear weapons programme. It wants to continue conducting a foreign policy to enhance the interests of the jews only state in palestine. "Armed with the full support of NATO allies, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will try to convince a skeptical Russia that it should back U.S. plans to step up pressure on Iran to suspend its nuclear activities. Having won NATO endorsement to stay the course despite a new U.S. intelligence assessment that concludes Iran stopped its atomic weapons development program in 2003, Rice was to meet Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has become the public face of opposition to new U.N. sanctions. But Lavrov on Wednesday said Moscow had not seen any evidence that Iran had, in fact, ever had a nuclear weapons program, not even one that it had given up on four years ago. Rice said she saw no reason for major policy moves. "I don't see that the NIE changes the course that we're on," she said. "In fact, I would think given the assessment that Iran is indeed susceptible to coordinated international pressure that (this) is the right approach," she said." (Matthew Lee ‘Rice Seeks Russian Backing on Iran’ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/12/05/international/i115908S90.DTL December 7, 2007).
Political Analysis.
Simon Tisdall suggests Intelligence Community Pre-emptive Strike.
"The story inside this story will obsess Washington for weeks to come. The extraordinary way in which the NIE was openly published (rather than partially leaked or kept secret, as would normally be the case) took everybody unawares, and possibly Bush, too, who was only told of its final conclusions last week. On the face of it, the decision to go public looks like a case of high Washington politics, a pre-emptive strike against the White House by intelligence agencies and military chiefs determined not to be suckered, as they were before the Iraq war, into producing intelligence to fit a preordained policy. That the CIA and others felt able to act in this manner is a measure of Bush's weakness and their own lingering anger over the Iraq WMD debacle." (Simon Tisdall ‘The A-bomb that wasn't’ http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_tisdall/2007/12/the_abomb_that_wasnt.html December 4, 2007).
Views of Ray McGovern.
"For those who have doubts about miracles, a double one occurred today. An honest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's nuclear program has been issued and its Key Judgments were made public. With redraft after redraft, it was what the Germans call "eine schwere Geburt", a difficult birth, ten months in gestation. I do not know how often Vice President Dick Cheney visited CIA Headquarters during the gestation period, but I am told he voiced his displeasure as soon as he saw the first sonogram/draft very early this year, and is so displeased with what issued that he has refused to be the godfather. This time Cheney and his neo-con colleagues were unable to abort the process. And after delivery to the press, this child is going to be very hard to explain, the more so since it is legitimate. Having reached these conclusions, it is not surprising that the NIE's authors make a point of saying up front (in bold type) "This NIE does not assume that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons." This, of course, pulls out the rug from under Cheney's claim of a "fairly robust new nuclear program" in Iran, and President Bush's inaccurate assertion that Iranian leaders have even admitted they are developing nuclear weapons. Apparently, intelligence community analysts are no longer required to produce the faith-based intelligence that brought us the Oct. 1, 2002 NIE "Iraq's Continuing Program for Weapons of Mass Destruction"-the worst in the history of U.S. intelligence." (Ray McGovern ‘No-Nuke Iran’ http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern12042007.html December 4, 2007).
Robert Scheer suggests NIE Vindicates ElBaradei.
"Once again, they will attack the United Nations’ experts, who have been proved right in Iran as they were in Iraq. A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency pointed out that the NIE report supports the agency’s view that there is "no evidence" of an undeclared nuclear weapons program in Iran and "validates the assessments of [IAEA Director General] Mohamed ElBaradei, who continuously said in his public statements that he saw no clear and public danger, and that therefore that there was plenty of time for negotiations."" (Robert Scheer ‘It Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One’ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071204_it_turns_out_ahmadinejad_is_honest/ December 4, 2007).
Jim Lobe.
Lobe highlights the shock of the nie’s conclusions. "Needless to say, the NIE is a bombshell and will, of course, not only dramatically impact the domestic political debate in the coming year, but will certainly wreck havoc on the administration’s diplomatic strategy." (Jim Lobe ‘Realist Revenge’ http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=82 December 05, 2007).
The biggest reversal in the history of US nuclear intelligence.
"US intelligence agencies reversed their view about the status of Iran's nuclear weapons program after they obtained notes several months ago from the deliberations of Iranian military officials involved in the weapons development program, senior intelligence and government officials said. The notes included conversations and deliberations in which some of the military officials complained bitterly about what they termed a decision by their superiors in late 2003 to shut down a complex engineering effort to design nuclear weapons, including a warhead that could fit atop Iranian missiles. The newly obtained notes contradicted public assertions by US intelligence officials that the nuclear weapons design effort was still active. The US officials who described the highly classified operation, which led to one of the biggest reversals in the history of US nuclear intelligence, declined to describe how the notes were obtained." (Con Coughlin and David Sanger ‘Israel warns Iran to co-operate or pay price’ http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/israel-warns-iran-to-cooperate-or-pay-price/2007/12/06/1196812921134.html December 7, 2007).
Trita Parsi believes NIE has exposed folly of the Jews’ Policy on Iran.
"A growing number of people in Israel have recognized the folly of its Iran policy. The chessboard has changed but Israel has not adjusted its policy to the new realities. Israel is on autopilot, pursuing a policy which ignores the new strategic fundamentals: Hezbollah's military success last year, the US's quagmire in Iraq and Iran's irreversible nuclear advances. Israeli decision-makers have been in a state of strategic paralysis, incapable of recognizing the new chessboard and the necessary adjustments they need to make. They have feared recognizing publicly that Iran is a rational actor and that even a nuclear Iran wouldn't be an existential threat to the Jewish state, out of fear that such admissions would take pressure off of Washington to act firmly against Iran, the same argument Peres and Rabin used in the mid-1990s. Politically, this is understandable. No Israeli leader wishes to be the one to declare to the Israeli public that a critical step in the strategic rivalry with Iran has been lost, even though it was never really winnable." (Trita Parsi ‘Is Iran NIE a Blessing in Disguise for Israel?’ http://www.antiwar.com/ips/parsi.php?articleid=12018 December 7, 2007).
Dilip Hiro and Tom Engelhardt believe the Neocons have been Neutered.
"The Iranians as rational, cost-benefit calculators? Only the near collapse of presidential and vice-presidential polling figures, and the endless policy failures that proceeded and accompanied those numbers; only the arrival of Robert Gates as secretary of defense and a representative of the "reality-based community," only the weakening of the neocons and their purge inside the Pentagon, only the increasing isolation of the Vice President's "office", only, that is, decline inside the Beltway, could account for such a conclusion or such a release." (Tom Engelhardt ‘The Zero-Sum Fiasco’ http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=12013 December 7, 2007).
Ray McGovern believes American Military wouldn’t go along with new rationale for provoking war with Iran.
"Several months ago, about the time new intelligence established there was no active nuclear weapons program in Iran, there were signs in the rhetoric coming from the president and Gen. David Petraeus that the argument was going to hinge on claims that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were supplying the wherewithal to kill our troops in Iraq. Petraeus was clearly ready to play that game, but his superior, Admiral William "we’re-not-going-to-do-Iran-on-my-watch" Fallon would not play along. And neither would the Joint Chiefs of Staff." (Ray McGovern ‘Bush Spins Iran's Centrifuges’ http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=12026 December 8, 2007).
Eric Margolis, NIE is a devastating, humiliating blow to Bush and his Fifth Columnists.
"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. 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. 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." (Eric Margolis ‘Final disgrace for Bush & Co http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/12/09/4715227-sun.php December 9, 2007).
Xymphora: Wasps have reclaimed Dominance.
"The NIE on Iran is entirely political, and constitutes a statement by the Old American Establishment that it is not going to be tricked or cajoled into fighting another War for the Jews unless there is a compelling argument that such a war is in the real national interests of the United States. There is no conceivable scenario in the foreseeable future that a war against Iran could possibly be in the American national interest. As I’ve been saying all along, it is not going to happen, and the Old American Establishment, angered by the Zionist meddling to ruin the Annapolis conference, threw down the gauntlet to the Jewish Billionaires and their employees. Decades of Jewish wealth accumulation still can’t match centuries of Old American Establishment wealth accumulation, and the Old American Establishment still controls the American military (non-Jewish as American Jews wisely don’t choose to die for the gentiles), the American intelligence agencies (non-Jewish due to a history of anti-Semitism, coupled with very real, and growing more real, concerns about dual loyalties), and most of the American bureaucracy in the State and Treasury Departments. The Old American Establishment is making itself clear, and indicating that it is fully engaged on the issue. No more Wars for the Jews! Despite some rhetorical flourishes, the Bush Administration has heard the news loud and clear (as has much of the Israeli leadership)." (Xymphora ‘The message’ http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2007/12/message.html December 16, 2007).
ElBaradei.
"ElBaradei said Iran is still years away from being able to make a nuclear weapon; that he drew a "deep sigh of relief" when the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was released in Washington in end-November, which "eliminated the element of urgency from the Iranian file and created an opportunity to start a serious dialogue to resolve the problem through negotiation"; that the Iranian nuclear program "cannot be separated from the security process in the Middle East"." (M K Bhadrakumar ‘Gulf allies turn their backs on Bush’ http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA16Ak02.html January 16, 2008).
James Petras: The Rebellion of America’s Intelligence Services.
James petras suggests the prime reason for the rebellion of america’s intelligence services against the jewish dominated bush regime was their refusal to accept more fabricated intelligence from the jews-only state which, in the past, had proven to be disastrous for american interests. "The NIE report refuted its own previous conclusions of 2005, which were heavily influenced by the White House and its Zionist-Israeli backers. The reversal of conclusions was not based on ‘new data’ or information techniques as is claimed. The change resulted from a dramatic shift in the balance of forces within the US government and in particular the strengthening of the US military elite versus the pro-war Zionist Power Configuration, a shift shaped by the enormous and unending American losses in Iraq and Afghanistan. A key factor in pushing the US intelligence agencies to break with their past subjugation to White House manipulation and Israeli-Zionist fabricated intelligence was the repeated failures and incredible stupidity of the Israeli intelligence agencies, leading to a loss of their credibility.
* Israeli intelligence blundered and miscalculated on Hezbollah’s strength and organization which led to a debacle when Israel invaded Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
* Israeli estimates on Iraqi capacity to resist invasion and foreign occupation (so eagerly accepted and propagated by top Zionist Pentagon officials in the lead up to the invasion) led to the now 6 years of a US war of attrition in Iraq with no end in sight.
* Israel’s intelligence totally underestimated Hamas’ electoral strength in the run-up to their electoral victory over the PLO.
* Israeli intelligence overestimated the PLO’s military capacity to defeat and destroy Hamas in Gaza.
* Israel’s claim to have detected a nuclear facility in Syria, which it bombed, was an international joke, as even Moses could not have destroyed a (fictional) nuclear facility without producing a speck of radioactive dust!
"Learning from Israeli intelligence agencies’ tendency to feed disinformation to its clients in the US Government in order to further Greater Israel’s claims to Mid-East hegemony at the expense of Washington’s long term interests, the US national intelligence community asserted its independence and published its report denying each and every Israeli-Zionist-White House assertion concerning Iran’s nuclear weapons program and, in particular, pointing to the end of research into nuclear weapons as far back as the fall of 2003." (James Petras ‘Israel and Top Zionist Leaders attack Intelligence’ December 8, 2007).
When did Bush know about the NIE?
December 2007.
"Enough power evidently remained in the hands of Vice President Cheney and associates that the final NIE was delayed at least three times, according to Congressional sources speaking to the Los Angeles Times. The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh claims that "the vice-president has kept his foot on the neck of that report... The intelligence we learned about yesterday has been circulating inside this government at the highest levels for the last year, and probably longer." Still, it's now out and that is a yardstick of something." (Tom Engelhardt ‘The Zero-Sum Fiasco’ http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=12013 December 7, 2007).
February 2007.
"White House officials have now admitted that President George W Bush was told that the intelligence assessment on a covert Iranian nuclear program might change in August, but they have avoided answering the question of when the president was first informed about the new intelligence that led to that revised assessment. That evasion is necessary, it now appears, to conceal the fact that Bush likely knew about that intelligence as early as February or March 2007. The key development that altered the course of the NIE on Iran, according to intelligence sources, was the defection of a senior official of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, Ali Reza Asgari, on a visit to Turkey last February, as widely reported in international news media in subsequent weeks. The Washington Post's Dafna Linzer, citing a "senior US official", reported on March 8 that Asgari, who had been deputy minister of defense for eight years under the reformist president Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005, was already providing information to US intelligence." (Gareth Porter ‘Bush has a little secret on Iran’ http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IL19Ak02.html December 19, 2007).
June 2007.
"Bush has been trying to work up an attack on Iran based on a non-existent nuclear weapon program. When asked how he could be threatening World War III with a nuclear-armed Iran when US intelligence (and the International Atomic Energy Agency) cannot find evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, Bush said that "nobody told me" about the new finding. Absurd say intelligence officials. The White House has known about the finding for six months while Dick Cheney tried to suppress the NIE finding. Neocon National Security Advisor Steve Hadley even lied to the press that the NIE finding was new and that’s why Bush didn’t know about it." (Paul Craig Roberts ‘Lies Upon Lies: When Will Bush Come Clean?’ http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts12072007.html December 8/9, 2007).
July 2007.
"Consider, for example, that the conclusions of the NIE have been known, at least by the top ranks of the executive branch, for quite a long time but were not permitted to be released. So why did President George W. Bush make dire statements like this one on Oct. 17: "I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." Bear in mind that the standard procedure for the National Intelligence Council, the group that produces the NIE, is that it always briefs the director of central intelligence (now the director of national intelligence) regularly (and early) on deliberations surrounding critical reports, so there is no doubt that the White House was well aware of the NIE's conclusions many months ago. In fact, shortly after the release of the NIE, the Washington Post reported the White House had been briefed as early as last July on the new evidence of the Iranian abandonment of weaponization in 2003, but White House officials sharply challenged that evidence." (David Isenberg ‘NIE Report Keeps Spreading Its Influence’ http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=4175&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=37&from_page=index.cfm January 14, 2008).
Summer 2007.
Lobe believes the nie was known for a long while forcing the neocons to change tactics on iran. "Second, the fact that the main conclusions of the report were known in top policy circles since at least last summer, if not well before then, helps explain why the administration’s hawks (and their neo-con allies), culminating in Cheney’s late October speech to the Washington Institute on Near East Policy (WINEP), started hyping Iran’s alleged direction of attacks on U.S. soldiers and marines in Iraq in August. It was clear by then that the nuclear pretext for war would suffer a serious setback whenever the NIE would be published, so that a new pretext needed to be pressed hard." (Jim Lobe ‘Realist Revenge’ http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=82 December 05, 2007).
August 2007.
"President George W. Bush was told in August that Iran may have suspended its nuclear weapons program, the White House said on Wednesday, a day after Bush said he was not given a full report on the issue. During a news conference on Tuesday, Bush said he was informed of the intelligence report last week, but said U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell told him in August there was new information on Iran. "He didn't tell me what the information was. He did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze," Bush said." (Tabassum Zakaria ‘Bush told in Aug Iran may have halted nuclear program’ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071206/ts_nm/iran_usa_bush_timing_dc December 05, 2007); "Bush was given the new NIE on Iran last August." (Eric Margolis ‘Final disgrace for Bush & Co http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/12/09/4715227-sun.php December 9, 2007).
September 2007.
"In October, he charged that Iran’s nuclear weapons program was bringing the world to the precipice of World War III, even though the White House had been informed at least a month earlier that Iran had no such program and had stopped efforts to develop one back in 2003. Is it conceivable that Bush was telling the truth at his press conference Tuesday when he stated that he learned of the National Intelligence Estimate report, which contained that inconvenient fact, only last week?" (Robert Scheer ‘It Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One’ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071204_it_turns_out_ahmadinejad_is_honest/ December 4, 2007).
Summary of NIE’s Political Implications.
No Sanctions against Iran.
Gone is even the pretext for more stringent sanctions. God knows, perhaps even the existing feeble sanctions will be abolished tomorrow." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
No Coalition against Iran.
"In the last few years, a broad coalition against Iran has come into being. Now, before our very eyes, this coalition is crumbling. President Bush is stammering. Gone is the excuse for an American military attack on Iran, the dream of the Israeli government and the neocons." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
No American attack on Iran.
"The war on Iran, which was to be the defining event of 2008, has turned for the time being into a non-event." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007); "The report, so it seems, has swept from the table any possibility of an American and/or Israeli military attack on Iran." (Uri Avnery ‘The Strategic Aim of Israel in Gaza is to Break Hamas. Help! A Ceasefire!’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12242007.html December 24, 2007).
No Jewish attack on Iran.
"The possibility of an independent Israeli military strike against Iran has vanished." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
No Missiles in Europe.
No need for american anti-ballistic missiles in europe to counter iranian (nuclear) missiles.
No need to Rearm Middle East Allies.
With the downgrading of the Iranian threat, the Israeli military has lost its biggest selling point for future funding. And, although it is hardly a deal killer, the rationale for the Bush administration's $60 billion arms sale package to Persian Gulf states, and more military assistance to Israel and Egypt, just became more difficult." (David Isenberg ‘NIE Report Keeps Spreading Its Influence’ http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=4175&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=37&from_page=index.cfm January 14, 2008).
No new money for the American Military.
"For the military and intelligence services, the report is an unmitigated disaster for another reason too. The Iranian bomb plays an indispensable part in the army's annual fight for its massive chunk of the budget cake." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
Netanyahu is going to have to change his Electoral Tactics.
For right-wing demagogues, the effect is even more disheartening. Binyamin Netanyahu has built his whole strategy on the Iranian scare, hoping to ride the Bomb right into the Prime Minister's office." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
Allies Lose trust in the Bush Regime.
"There is also a "bad news, bad news" aspect to this. The essence of the NIE's findings would have been part of the President's Daily Brief, regular and ad hoc CIA intelligence products, as well as those produced by the State Department Intelligence and Research bureau and other agencies. These then would have been shared with the principal administration players in the efforts to claim that Iran had a nuclear weapon program, including even foreign intelligence services, thus informing players among the E3 nations. So the classic Watergate question of what did the White House know and when did it know it extends to people such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, or possibly even to E3 negotiator Javier Solana. But if we had been keeping this information from our allies, this will destroy the remaining shreds of trust in the United States as a strategic ally. The fallout for intelligence cooperation will be immense. On top of everything that happened with regard to the intelligence scandals leading up to the invasion of Iraq, what foreign intelligence service will trust the United States in the future?" (David Isenberg ‘NIE Report Keeps Spreading Its Influence’ http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=4175&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=37&from_page=index.cfm January 14, 2008).
102. Jewish Reactions to the NIE.
Ehud Barak rejects NIE Conclusions: December 4, 2007.
"The defence minister, Ehud Barak, flatly rejected the US findings yesterday: "It's apparently true that in 2003 Iran stopped pursuing its military nuclear programme for a time. But in our opinion, since then it has apparently continued that programme."" (Simon Tisdall ‘The A-bomb that wasn't’ http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_tisdall/2007/12/the_abomb_that_wasnt.html December 4, 2007); "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." (Eric Margolis ‘Final disgrace for Bush & Co http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/12/09/4715227-sun.php December 9, 2007).
Jews speculating about the need for a Military attack on Iran: December 7, 2007.
"Senior Israeli officials warned today they were still considering the option of a military strike against Iran, despite a fresh US intelligence report that concluded Tehran was no longer developing nuclear weapons. Israeli officials quickly offered a direct challenge. Ehud Barak, the defence minister, said although Iran's nuclear programme was halted in 2003 "as far as we know it has probably since revived it". Some have suggested that with Israel feeling isolated by its hardline stance on Iran, it might be more inclined to launch a unilateral military strike and a comparison is frequently drawn to Israel's 1981 bombing of Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector, said this week if Israel felt its "red line" had been crossed it might strike. "They may force a military confrontation," he told the Associated Press agency." (Rory McCarthy ‘Israel considering strike on Iran despite US intelligence report’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2224052,00.html December 7, 2007).
Prosor can’t let go of the idea that Iran will get Nukes soon: December 7, 2007.
"Israel has warned Iran to either co-operate with the West over its uranium enrichment program or face military action. Ron Prosor, Israel's newly appointed ambassador to Britain and one of his country's leading experts on Iran's nuclear program, said that Tehran could enrich enough uranium to make an atomic bomb by 2009. "At the current rate of progress, Iran will reach the technical threshold for producing fissile material by 2009," he said. "This is a global threat and it requires a global response. "It should be made clear that if Iran does not co-operate, then military confrontation is inevitable. It is either co-operation or confrontation." Mr Prosor, who served Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, as his senior adviser on Iran, said that time for resolving the nuclear issue was rapidly running out. But he was non-committal about the possibility of Israel launching military action." (Con Coughlin and David Sanger ‘Israel warns Iran to co-operate or pay price’ http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/israel-warns-iran-to-cooperate-or-pay-price/2007/12/06/1196812921134.html December 7, 2007); "It must be clear that if Iran does not cooperate with the West on the nuclear issue, military confrontation will be unavoidable, incoming Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, was quoted as saying Sunday. Prosor, who served as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's senior adviser on Iran, told the Sunday Telegraph that Teheran could enrich enough uranium to make an atomic bomb by 2009. "At the current rate of progress Iran will reach the technical threshold for producing fissile material by 2009," he told the British newspaper. "This is a global threat and it requires a global response. It should be made clear that if Iran does not co-operate then military confrontation is inevitable. It is either co-operation or confrontation."" (‘Prosor: War with Iran may be unavoidable’ http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847289613&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull December 09, 2007).
Jews can’t accept Iran doesn’t have a Nuclear Weapons Programme: December 07, 2007.
"The paper (Time) quoted Israeli intelligence sources who said Iran had been the top priority of the Mossad for the past five years, and the organization assessed that Teheran's nuclear weapons program was very much alive and could produce a nuclear weapon by 2009. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio that while Iran may have halted development of nuclear weapons four years ago, it has probably revived the program since then. "We are talking about a specific track connected with their weapons building program, to which the American [intelligence] connection, and maybe that of others, was severed," he said." ('US report ended attack option on Iran' http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847277347&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter December 07, 2007).
Ephraim Sneh and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer: December 07, 2007.
"The US National Intelligence Estimate's assertion that Iran currently does not have a nuclear weapons program has caused much frustration in Israel. Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh referred to the report as a lie at a recent breakfast in New York, and Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer reportedly "doesn't buy" its findings." (Trita Parsi ‘Is Iran NIE a Blessing in Disguise for Israel?’ http://www.antiwar.com/ips/parsi.php?articleid=12018 December 7, 2007).
Jews’ Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi threatens War: December 13, 2007.
"Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi called for international pressure on Iran, but said that the IDF recognized the need to prepare in the event that global efforts fail. "The international community must act with determination to stop the nuclearization of Iran, but should this action not succeed, we in the Israel Defence Forces must prepare for any scenario," Ashkenazi said. "In the coming years the need to strike at significant long-range targets will become far more important, therefore the capability to act both defensively and offensively against various threats will be upgraded greatly with a strong emphasis on long-range capability," he said without elaborating." (Yossi Melman ‘Israeli official: U.S. is not doing enough on Iran nukes’ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/934049.html December 13, 2007).
Warmongering, Paranoid, Jews intent on driving America into Death and Destruction (for the benefit of the Jews-only State): December 13, 2007.
"A senior Israeli official has fiercely criticized U.S. President George Bush's administration for the way it has dealt with the Iranian nuclear issue. The official said that the administration was not doing what was required of it to create an international coalition and wide agreement to pressure Iran over its nuclear program. Criticism from senior members of Israel's political echelon with regard to U.S. policy on the matter is rare. The official mainly spoke out against Bush's failure to enlist support from China, Russia and, to a certain extent, India, for increasing pressure on Iran and North Korea. According to the official, the Bush administration has insisted on stressing matters such as human rights in China and its policy on Taiwan, and as a result, has neglected to gain its support in the struggle against Iran. The official added that the approach of the Bush administration has been the same toward Russia, focusing on human rights and on the federation's struggles with Chechnya, thus allowing both China and Russia to take a "negativistic" approach to the Americans." (Yossi Melman ‘Israeli official: U.S. is not doing enough on Iran nukes’ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/934049.html December 13, 2007).
New Jewish Policy on Iran: December 14, 2007.
"Mr Olmert was in effect announcing a departure from the policy Israel maintained over the past few years, formulated by ex-prime minister Ariel Sharon. This put forward the view that the Iranian nuclear programme was "the world’s problem" and that Israel should be careful not to be seen as the prime motivator of pressure on Iran. Now it is clear to the decision-makers that Israel has to be a lot more energetic in convincing the international community and public opinion that Iran is still intent on building a bomb. "Israel has been pushed into the centre of the world’s attention by the American intelligence report," one government adviser told the JC. "It would have been much better if the Americans and Europeans had acted on this earlier and with more vigour," said another diplomatic source, "but that was an unrealistic expectation. It was the right thing to say at the time, but the problem was that, for too long, the government actually believed that message and only over the last few months has the Iranian issue gone to the top of the agenda. The American report was a last wake-up call for whoever still needed it that Israel has to rely on itself first in this. For the Americans, an Iranian bomb is a serious threat to their interests; for us it’s a serious threat to our very existence." (Anshel Pfeffer ‘Israel unveils new strategy on Iran’ http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s19&SecId=19&AId=56976&ATypeId=1 December 14, 2007).
Jews pressing world to ignore NIE - December 14, 2007.
"Israel is working together with the United States administration and the British and French governments to counter the effect caused by the US National Intelligence Estimate report last week, which stated that Iran had stopped its military nuclear programme in 2003. The report has also changed Israel’s diplomatic policy towards the Iranian threat. Senior officials from all four governments were in contact last week immediately following the report’s publication to coordinate steps to minimise its effect. US National Security adviser Stephen Hadley and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s chief of staff, Yoram Turbovich, were involved in planning the two governments’ subsequent actions together with British and French officials. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s statement last week that Iran was still in defiance of the international community, and therefore Britain would seek further sanctions, was also part of these efforts, as was the publicity attached to Binyamin Netanyahu’s meeting on Monday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the Iranian issue." (Anshel Pfeffer ‘Israel unveils new strategy on Iran’ http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s19&SecId=19&AId=56976&ATypeId=1 December 14, 2007).
Avi Dichter, Public Security Minister threatens War: December 16, 2007.
"Israel's prime minister told his cabinet Sunday to tone down criticism of a U.S. intelligence report concluding that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons program, an attempt to keep the disagreement from getting out of hand. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's instructions came after one of his ministers warned that the U.S. report could trigger a war. At the same time, officials said an intelligence delegation is in the U.S. to press Israel's case that Iran is still working on a nuclear bomb. The developments underlined the dilemma Israel faces over how to handle serious differences with its main ally over a key security issue. Without contradicting his own intelligence, President Bush has been sympathetic to the Israeli view that Iran is still dangerous. At Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting, Olmert indirectly rebuked Public Security Minister Avi Dichter for publicly criticizing the U.S. report as a "misconception" that could lead to a surprise regional war. "Something went wrong in the American blueprint for analyzing the severity of the Iranian nuclear threat," Dichter, a former head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency, said in a speech Saturday." (Mark Lavie ‘Israel plays down split with US on Iran’ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_us_iran December 16, 2007); "The statements by Israeli officials concerning the recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran and its nuclear program are perhaps the best manifestation of this reality. Avi Dichter, Israel's public security minister, has condemned the NIE as a flawed document, and in terms that link the American analysis to a cause-and-effect cycle that could lead the Middle East down the path of regional war. Like many Israelis, including the prime minister, Dichter disagrees with the American NIE on Iran, in particular the finding that Iran ceased its nuclear weapons program in 2003. The Israelis hold that this program is still active, despite the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reached a conclusion similar to the NIE's based upon its own exhaustive inspection activities inside Iran over the past five years. In threatening the world with war because America opted for once to embrace fact instead of fiction, Israel, sadly, has become like a cornered beast, lashing out at any and all it perceives to threaten its security interests. The current Israeli definition of what constitutes its security interests is so broad as to preclude any difference of opinion." (Scott Ritter ‘US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel’ http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ritter.php?articleid=12064 December 17, 2007).
Jews still pushing America towards War: December 17, 2007.
"Israel at present can have no friends, because Israel does not know how to be a friend. Driven by xenophobic paranoia and historical grievances, Israel is embarked on a path that can only lead to death and destruction. This is a path the United States should not tread. I have always taken the position that Israel is a friend of the United States, and that friends should always stand up for one another, even in difficult times. I have also noted that, to quote a phrase well known in America, friends don't let friends drive drunk, and that for some time now Israel has been drunk on arrogance and power. As a friend, I have believed the best course of action for the United States to take would be that which helped remove the keys from the ignition of the policy vehicle Israel is steering toward the edge of the abyss. Now it seems our old friend is holding a pistol to our head, demanding that we stop interfering with the vehicle's operation and preventing us from getting out of the car. This is not the action of a friend, and it can no longer be tolerated." (Scott Ritter ‘US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel’ http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ritter.php?articleid=12064 December 17, 2007).
Jews have "rock solid" evidence against Iran: January 6, 2008.
"Israeli security officials are to brief President George W Bush on their latest intelligence about Iran’s nuclear programme, and how it could be destroyed, when he begins a tour of the Middle East in Jerusalem this week. Ehud Barak, the defence minister, is said to want to convince him that an Israeli military strike against uranium enrichment facilities in Iran would be feasible if diplomatic efforts failed to halt nuclear operations. A range of military options has been prepared. Israeli intelligence is understood to agree that the project was halted around the time of America’s invasion of Iraq, but has "rock solid" information that it has since started up again." (Uzi Mahnaimi ‘Israel to brief George Bush on options for Iran strike’ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3137521.ece January 6, 2008).
Jews believe Iran has been on the verge of acquiring Nukes for last twenty Years: January 14, 2008.
Meanwhile, the Israelis are upset that the Americans think a military strike is now "off the table." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made it clear that Israel is basing its policy on its assessment that Iran would achieve military nuclear capability by 2009 or 2010. Nobody mentioned that previous Israeli assessments had been declaring Iranian nuclear capability as only a year or two away for about a decade." (David Isenberg ‘NIE Report Keeps Spreading Its Influence’ http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=4175&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=37&from_page=index.cfm January 14, 2008).
103. Gates believes Iran’s Non-existent Nuclear Weapons are more of a threat than the Jews all too real, but allegedly non-existent, Nuclear Weapons - December 8, 2007.
"U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates defended Israel's reputed nuclear program on Saturday, saying Israel did not seek to destroy its neighbors or support terrorism, unlike Iran. Asked at an international security conference in Bahrain on Saturday whether he thought Israel's nuclear program posed a threat to the region, Gates replied: "No, I do not." The statement was greeted by laughter from a room filled with government officials from Middle Eastern countries. Gates did not specifically mention Israel's nuclear weapons or arsenal, but responded to questions about its "nuclear program", giving the Pentagon chief room to dismiss any suggestion that he implicitly confirmed the existence of nuclear weapons in Israel." (‘Gates: Israel doesn't pose nuclear threat like Iran’ http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932361.html December 08, 2007).
104. Bush won’t applaud Iran for giving up a Nuclear Programme - December 11, 2007.
"President Bush on Tuesday called on Iran to explain why it had a secretive nuclear weapons program, and warned that any such efforts must not be allowed to flourish "for the sake of world peace." "Iran is dangerous," Bush said after an Oval Office meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. "We believe Iran had a secret military weapons program, and Iran must explain to the world why they had a program." (Ben Feller ‘Bush demands Iran explain nuke program’ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_14 December 11, 2007).
105. Russia delivers Nuclear Fuel to Iran - December 17, 2007.
"Russia has made its first shipment of nuclear fuel to an Iranian nuclear power plant at the center of the international tensions over Tehran's atomic program, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. The United States said the Russian delivery gave Iran another reason to suspend its enrichment program. The U.S. has been unhappy about Russia helping Iran build the Bushehr nuclear plant. But President Bush has supported Russia in providing uranium fuel to Iran, but only if Moscow retrieves the used reactor fuel for reprocessing." (Russia makes first nuclear fuel shipment to Iran’ http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-17-russia-iran_N.htm December 17, 2007).
106. Pentagon back to abusing Iran - December 19, 2007.
"The US Defence Department says Iran is continuing to send weapons and sophisticated technology to insurgents in Iraq. In its latest report to Congress, the Pentagon said there had been no decrease in Iranian support for insurgents despite a promise made in September by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The report calls Tehran's backing a significant impediment to stabilising security in Iraq." (‘US says Iran still sending weapons to Iraq’ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/19/2123173.htm?section=justin December 19, 2007).
107. Gregory L. Schulte keeping up the Pressure on Iran - December 22, 2007.
"An American official said Friday that a secret Iranian nuclear arms program that United States intelligence agencies believe had been halted in 2003 could easily be revived because of later curbs on United Nations inspections in the country. The official, Gregory L. Schulte, the American ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, challenged suggestions that the American agencies’ National Intelligence Estimate, disclosed Dec. 3, reduced the urgency of reining in Iran with I.A.E.A. investigations, United Nations sanctions and hard-nosed diplomacy." (‘U.S. Envoy Says Iran Could Revive Halted Nuclear Arms Program’ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/world/middleeast/22iran.html?ex=1355979600&en=3c3c80a338f8d8bd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss December 22, 2007).
"China has for the first time indicated clear support for a new package of United Nations sanctions against Iran, breaking months of deadlock inside the UN security council over how to respond to Tehran's nuclear programme. In a move that will boost expectations in western capitals that a new UN sanctions resolution could be agreed within weeks, Beijing signalled over the weekend that it was prepared to back measures that will hit Iran's banking and business sector, while also prohibiting more senior Iranians from travelling abroad." (James Blitz, Mure Dickie, and Daniel Dombey ‘Beijing backs fresh sanctions against Iran’ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca10edbc-a141-11dc-9f34-0000779fd2ac.html December 03, 2007).
M k bhadrakumar suspects america might be willing to toughen its stance against taiwan if china toughens its stance against iran. "What pleased Beijing immensely was that what Negroponte did after his arrival in Beijing on Wednesday was to hold a press conference in the US Embassy in Beijing, where he proceeded to categorically denounce Taiwan's planned referendum on UN membership as "provocative" and "a mistake". Negroponte explained that the US understood Taiwan was a core issue for China, and Washington takes China's concerns seriously. Therefore, he continued, "It's not something we will want to talk about as a 'trade-off' with other issues." Indeed, the battle-scarred veteran diplomat knew perfectly well the worth of the gesture that Washington is making at a juncture when the Taiwan problem is fraught with uncertainties. He hinted precisely that Washington expected a quid pro quo from Beijing on issues of core concern to it. The government newspaper China Daily acknowledged that Washington was signaling that "it is willing to use its influence to contain secessionist moves" in Taiwan." (M K Bhadrakumar ‘US woos a partner over Iran’ http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JA23Df02.html January 23, 2008).
101. Publication of National Intelligence Estimate on Iran - December 03, 2007.
Quite unexpectedly, america’s intelligence community decided to publish its national intelligence estimate on iran.
The NIE Statement.
Hadley’s Statement.
"The IC has high confidence, high confidence, that Iran had a covert nuclear weapons program that it has never acknowledged and continues to deny. The intelligence community has high confidence that Iran halted its covert nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003. And they have moderate confidence that it had not restarted that program as of mid-2007." (Press Briefing by National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley quoted in Juan Cole ‘Did an Iranian Spy Clear Tehran of Nuclear Ambitions?’ http://www.juancole.com/2007_12_01_juanricole_archive.html December 04, 2007).
Juan Cole’s Thesis.
"The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran says that Iran did have a nuclear weapons research program until early 2003, but then dismantled it. There is now a high level of confidence that Iran is no longer seeking nuclear weapons. This finding reverses numerous statements of George W. Bush to the effect that Iran is frantically trying to get a nuke. So what convinced the US intelligence community that Iran's weapons program was long ago dismantled? Very likely, one name: Ali Reza Asghari. If the decisive evidence for the lack of any nuclear weapons program in Iran was the documents Asghari spirited out when he defected last winter, then the US intelligence community has had this information for at least 6 months. So why has the Bush administration continued to rattle sabers at Iran all this time. Cheney and Bush have probably known since at least April that Iran has no weapons program." (Juan Cole ‘Did an Iranian Spy Clear Tehran of Nuclear Ambitions?’ http://www.juancole.com/2007_12_01_juanricole_archive.html December 04, 2007).
Response of the Bush Regime.
Robert Scheer points out that Bush won’t accept the NIE.
"Even if Bush read the NIE report, he clearly doesn’t respect it, for at his press conference he said "the NIE doesn’t do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world, quite the contrary." Not that he has anything against the NIE, whose directors he handpicked. "I want to compliment the intelligence community for their good work. Right after the failure of intelligence in Iraq, we reformed the intelligence community." But whether or not the intelligence agencies are reformed, the president still ignores them. He didn’t listen when they told him he was wrong in claiming that Iraq had purchased yellow cake uranium from Niger and he doesn’t listen now when they tell him his alarms about Iran are without factual foundation. The difference this time around is that because Bush is a discredited lame duck the intelligence chiefs were a bit more forthcoming with their findings in a report that has, in part, been made available to the public." (Robert Scheer ‘It Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One’ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071204_it_turns_out_ahmadinejad_is_honest/ December 4, 2007).
Bush carries on about Iran regardless of the NIE.
"President Bush refused to rule out a military strike against Iran Tuesday, though he confirmed the latest National Intelligence Estimate showed the Islamic state had halted a weapons program. "Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon," he said at the White House. "What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program?"" (Richard Allen Greene ‘Bush refuses to rule out Iran strike’ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7173.html December 04, 2007).
Ray McGovern believes Bush wants to press on for the sake of the Jews-only State.
"Judging from President George W. Bush’s words and body language he is far from giving up on ways to "justify" attacking Iran’s nuclear program, weapons-related or not. He appears convinced he must honor the pledge he has made to Israel’s current leaders to eliminate what they have called an "existential threat" to Israel. This came through in a particularly pointed way when an agitated president ad-libbed about the possibility of World War III, complaining loudly, "We’ve got a leader in Iran who has announced he wants to destroy Israel."" (Ray McGovern ‘Bush Spins Iran's Centrifuges’ http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=12026 December 8, 2007).
Rice continues global efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring Nuclear Weapons even though the NIE states it doesn’t have a Nuclear Weapons Programme.
Despite the publication of the nie, rice continues trying to rally the world against iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons programme! Under pressure from its jewish masters not to change course, the bush regime believes it can continue to sustain the fabrication that iran has a nuclear weapons programme. It wants to continue conducting a foreign policy to enhance the interests of the jews only state in palestine. "Armed with the full support of NATO allies, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will try to convince a skeptical Russia that it should back U.S. plans to step up pressure on Iran to suspend its nuclear activities. Having won NATO endorsement to stay the course despite a new U.S. intelligence assessment that concludes Iran stopped its atomic weapons development program in 2003, Rice was to meet Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who has become the public face of opposition to new U.N. sanctions. But Lavrov on Wednesday said Moscow had not seen any evidence that Iran had, in fact, ever had a nuclear weapons program, not even one that it had given up on four years ago. Rice said she saw no reason for major policy moves. "I don't see that the NIE changes the course that we're on," she said. "In fact, I would think given the assessment that Iran is indeed susceptible to coordinated international pressure that (this) is the right approach," she said." (Matthew Lee ‘Rice Seeks Russian Backing on Iran’ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/12/05/international/i115908S90.DTL December 7, 2007).
Political Analysis.
Simon Tisdall suggests Intelligence Community Pre-emptive Strike.
"The story inside this story will obsess Washington for weeks to come. The extraordinary way in which the NIE was openly published (rather than partially leaked or kept secret, as would normally be the case) took everybody unawares, and possibly Bush, too, who was only told of its final conclusions last week. On the face of it, the decision to go public looks like a case of high Washington politics, a pre-emptive strike against the White House by intelligence agencies and military chiefs determined not to be suckered, as they were before the Iraq war, into producing intelligence to fit a preordained policy. That the CIA and others felt able to act in this manner is a measure of Bush's weakness and their own lingering anger over the Iraq WMD debacle." (Simon Tisdall ‘The A-bomb that wasn't’ http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_tisdall/2007/12/the_abomb_that_wasnt.html December 4, 2007).
Views of Ray McGovern.
"For those who have doubts about miracles, a double one occurred today. An honest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran's nuclear program has been issued and its Key Judgments were made public. With redraft after redraft, it was what the Germans call "eine schwere Geburt", a difficult birth, ten months in gestation. I do not know how often Vice President Dick Cheney visited CIA Headquarters during the gestation period, but I am told he voiced his displeasure as soon as he saw the first sonogram/draft very early this year, and is so displeased with what issued that he has refused to be the godfather. This time Cheney and his neo-con colleagues were unable to abort the process. And after delivery to the press, this child is going to be very hard to explain, the more so since it is legitimate. Having reached these conclusions, it is not surprising that the NIE's authors make a point of saying up front (in bold type) "This NIE does not assume that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons." This, of course, pulls out the rug from under Cheney's claim of a "fairly robust new nuclear program" in Iran, and President Bush's inaccurate assertion that Iranian leaders have even admitted they are developing nuclear weapons. Apparently, intelligence community analysts are no longer required to produce the faith-based intelligence that brought us the Oct. 1, 2002 NIE "Iraq's Continuing Program for Weapons of Mass Destruction"-the worst in the history of U.S. intelligence." (Ray McGovern ‘No-Nuke Iran’ http://www.counterpunch.org/mcgovern12042007.html December 4, 2007).
Robert Scheer suggests NIE Vindicates ElBaradei.
"Once again, they will attack the United Nations’ experts, who have been proved right in Iran as they were in Iraq. A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency pointed out that the NIE report supports the agency’s view that there is "no evidence" of an undeclared nuclear weapons program in Iran and "validates the assessments of [IAEA Director General] Mohamed ElBaradei, who continuously said in his public statements that he saw no clear and public danger, and that therefore that there was plenty of time for negotiations."" (Robert Scheer ‘It Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One’ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071204_it_turns_out_ahmadinejad_is_honest/ December 4, 2007).
Jim Lobe.
Lobe highlights the shock of the nie’s conclusions. "Needless to say, the NIE is a bombshell and will, of course, not only dramatically impact the domestic political debate in the coming year, but will certainly wreck havoc on the administration’s diplomatic strategy." (Jim Lobe ‘Realist Revenge’ http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=82 December 05, 2007).
The biggest reversal in the history of US nuclear intelligence.
"US intelligence agencies reversed their view about the status of Iran's nuclear weapons program after they obtained notes several months ago from the deliberations of Iranian military officials involved in the weapons development program, senior intelligence and government officials said. The notes included conversations and deliberations in which some of the military officials complained bitterly about what they termed a decision by their superiors in late 2003 to shut down a complex engineering effort to design nuclear weapons, including a warhead that could fit atop Iranian missiles. The newly obtained notes contradicted public assertions by US intelligence officials that the nuclear weapons design effort was still active. The US officials who described the highly classified operation, which led to one of the biggest reversals in the history of US nuclear intelligence, declined to describe how the notes were obtained." (Con Coughlin and David Sanger ‘Israel warns Iran to co-operate or pay price’ http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/israel-warns-iran-to-cooperate-or-pay-price/2007/12/06/1196812921134.html December 7, 2007).
Trita Parsi believes NIE has exposed folly of the Jews’ Policy on Iran.
"A growing number of people in Israel have recognized the folly of its Iran policy. The chessboard has changed but Israel has not adjusted its policy to the new realities. Israel is on autopilot, pursuing a policy which ignores the new strategic fundamentals: Hezbollah's military success last year, the US's quagmire in Iraq and Iran's irreversible nuclear advances. Israeli decision-makers have been in a state of strategic paralysis, incapable of recognizing the new chessboard and the necessary adjustments they need to make. They have feared recognizing publicly that Iran is a rational actor and that even a nuclear Iran wouldn't be an existential threat to the Jewish state, out of fear that such admissions would take pressure off of Washington to act firmly against Iran, the same argument Peres and Rabin used in the mid-1990s. Politically, this is understandable. No Israeli leader wishes to be the one to declare to the Israeli public that a critical step in the strategic rivalry with Iran has been lost, even though it was never really winnable." (Trita Parsi ‘Is Iran NIE a Blessing in Disguise for Israel?’ http://www.antiwar.com/ips/parsi.php?articleid=12018 December 7, 2007).
Dilip Hiro and Tom Engelhardt believe the Neocons have been Neutered.
"The Iranians as rational, cost-benefit calculators? Only the near collapse of presidential and vice-presidential polling figures, and the endless policy failures that proceeded and accompanied those numbers; only the arrival of Robert Gates as secretary of defense and a representative of the "reality-based community," only the weakening of the neocons and their purge inside the Pentagon, only the increasing isolation of the Vice President's "office", only, that is, decline inside the Beltway, could account for such a conclusion or such a release." (Tom Engelhardt ‘The Zero-Sum Fiasco’ http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=12013 December 7, 2007).
Ray McGovern believes American Military wouldn’t go along with new rationale for provoking war with Iran.
"Several months ago, about the time new intelligence established there was no active nuclear weapons program in Iran, there were signs in the rhetoric coming from the president and Gen. David Petraeus that the argument was going to hinge on claims that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were supplying the wherewithal to kill our troops in Iraq. Petraeus was clearly ready to play that game, but his superior, Admiral William "we’re-not-going-to-do-Iran-on-my-watch" Fallon would not play along. And neither would the Joint Chiefs of Staff." (Ray McGovern ‘Bush Spins Iran's Centrifuges’ http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=12026 December 8, 2007).
Eric Margolis, NIE is a devastating, humiliating blow to Bush and his Fifth Columnists.
"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. 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. 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." (Eric Margolis ‘Final disgrace for Bush & Co http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/12/09/4715227-sun.php December 9, 2007).
Xymphora: Wasps have reclaimed Dominance.
"The NIE on Iran is entirely political, and constitutes a statement by the Old American Establishment that it is not going to be tricked or cajoled into fighting another War for the Jews unless there is a compelling argument that such a war is in the real national interests of the United States. There is no conceivable scenario in the foreseeable future that a war against Iran could possibly be in the American national interest. As I’ve been saying all along, it is not going to happen, and the Old American Establishment, angered by the Zionist meddling to ruin the Annapolis conference, threw down the gauntlet to the Jewish Billionaires and their employees. Decades of Jewish wealth accumulation still can’t match centuries of Old American Establishment wealth accumulation, and the Old American Establishment still controls the American military (non-Jewish as American Jews wisely don’t choose to die for the gentiles), the American intelligence agencies (non-Jewish due to a history of anti-Semitism, coupled with very real, and growing more real, concerns about dual loyalties), and most of the American bureaucracy in the State and Treasury Departments. The Old American Establishment is making itself clear, and indicating that it is fully engaged on the issue. No more Wars for the Jews! Despite some rhetorical flourishes, the Bush Administration has heard the news loud and clear (as has much of the Israeli leadership)." (Xymphora ‘The message’ http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2007/12/message.html December 16, 2007).
ElBaradei.
"ElBaradei said Iran is still years away from being able to make a nuclear weapon; that he drew a "deep sigh of relief" when the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was released in Washington in end-November, which "eliminated the element of urgency from the Iranian file and created an opportunity to start a serious dialogue to resolve the problem through negotiation"; that the Iranian nuclear program "cannot be separated from the security process in the Middle East"." (M K Bhadrakumar ‘Gulf allies turn their backs on Bush’ http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JA16Ak02.html January 16, 2008).
James Petras: The Rebellion of America’s Intelligence Services.
James petras suggests the prime reason for the rebellion of america’s intelligence services against the jewish dominated bush regime was their refusal to accept more fabricated intelligence from the jews-only state which, in the past, had proven to be disastrous for american interests. "The NIE report refuted its own previous conclusions of 2005, which were heavily influenced by the White House and its Zionist-Israeli backers. The reversal of conclusions was not based on ‘new data’ or information techniques as is claimed. The change resulted from a dramatic shift in the balance of forces within the US government and in particular the strengthening of the US military elite versus the pro-war Zionist Power Configuration, a shift shaped by the enormous and unending American losses in Iraq and Afghanistan. A key factor in pushing the US intelligence agencies to break with their past subjugation to White House manipulation and Israeli-Zionist fabricated intelligence was the repeated failures and incredible stupidity of the Israeli intelligence agencies, leading to a loss of their credibility.
* Israeli intelligence blundered and miscalculated on Hezbollah’s strength and organization which led to a debacle when Israel invaded Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
* Israeli estimates on Iraqi capacity to resist invasion and foreign occupation (so eagerly accepted and propagated by top Zionist Pentagon officials in the lead up to the invasion) led to the now 6 years of a US war of attrition in Iraq with no end in sight.
* Israel’s intelligence totally underestimated Hamas’ electoral strength in the run-up to their electoral victory over the PLO.
* Israeli intelligence overestimated the PLO’s military capacity to defeat and destroy Hamas in Gaza.
* Israel’s claim to have detected a nuclear facility in Syria, which it bombed, was an international joke, as even Moses could not have destroyed a (fictional) nuclear facility without producing a speck of radioactive dust!
"Learning from Israeli intelligence agencies’ tendency to feed disinformation to its clients in the US Government in order to further Greater Israel’s claims to Mid-East hegemony at the expense of Washington’s long term interests, the US national intelligence community asserted its independence and published its report denying each and every Israeli-Zionist-White House assertion concerning Iran’s nuclear weapons program and, in particular, pointing to the end of research into nuclear weapons as far back as the fall of 2003." (James Petras ‘Israel and Top Zionist Leaders attack Intelligence’ December 8, 2007).
When did Bush know about the NIE?
December 2007.
"Enough power evidently remained in the hands of Vice President Cheney and associates that the final NIE was delayed at least three times, according to Congressional sources speaking to the Los Angeles Times. The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh claims that "the vice-president has kept his foot on the neck of that report... The intelligence we learned about yesterday has been circulating inside this government at the highest levels for the last year, and probably longer." Still, it's now out and that is a yardstick of something." (Tom Engelhardt ‘The Zero-Sum Fiasco’ http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=12013 December 7, 2007).
February 2007.
"White House officials have now admitted that President George W Bush was told that the intelligence assessment on a covert Iranian nuclear program might change in August, but they have avoided answering the question of when the president was first informed about the new intelligence that led to that revised assessment. That evasion is necessary, it now appears, to conceal the fact that Bush likely knew about that intelligence as early as February or March 2007. The key development that altered the course of the NIE on Iran, according to intelligence sources, was the defection of a senior official of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, Ali Reza Asgari, on a visit to Turkey last February, as widely reported in international news media in subsequent weeks. The Washington Post's Dafna Linzer, citing a "senior US official", reported on March 8 that Asgari, who had been deputy minister of defense for eight years under the reformist president Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005, was already providing information to US intelligence." (Gareth Porter ‘Bush has a little secret on Iran’ http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IL19Ak02.html December 19, 2007).
June 2007.
"Bush has been trying to work up an attack on Iran based on a non-existent nuclear weapon program. When asked how he could be threatening World War III with a nuclear-armed Iran when US intelligence (and the International Atomic Energy Agency) cannot find evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, Bush said that "nobody told me" about the new finding. Absurd say intelligence officials. The White House has known about the finding for six months while Dick Cheney tried to suppress the NIE finding. Neocon National Security Advisor Steve Hadley even lied to the press that the NIE finding was new and that’s why Bush didn’t know about it." (Paul Craig Roberts ‘Lies Upon Lies: When Will Bush Come Clean?’ http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts12072007.html December 8/9, 2007).
July 2007.
"Consider, for example, that the conclusions of the NIE have been known, at least by the top ranks of the executive branch, for quite a long time but were not permitted to be released. So why did President George W. Bush make dire statements like this one on Oct. 17: "I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." Bear in mind that the standard procedure for the National Intelligence Council, the group that produces the NIE, is that it always briefs the director of central intelligence (now the director of national intelligence) regularly (and early) on deliberations surrounding critical reports, so there is no doubt that the White House was well aware of the NIE's conclusions many months ago. In fact, shortly after the release of the NIE, the Washington Post reported the White House had been briefed as early as last July on the new evidence of the Iranian abandonment of weaponization in 2003, but White House officials sharply challenged that evidence." (David Isenberg ‘NIE Report Keeps Spreading Its Influence’ http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=4175&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=37&from_page=index.cfm January 14, 2008).
Summer 2007.
Lobe believes the nie was known for a long while forcing the neocons to change tactics on iran. "Second, the fact that the main conclusions of the report were known in top policy circles since at least last summer, if not well before then, helps explain why the administration’s hawks (and their neo-con allies), culminating in Cheney’s late October speech to the Washington Institute on Near East Policy (WINEP), started hyping Iran’s alleged direction of attacks on U.S. soldiers and marines in Iraq in August. It was clear by then that the nuclear pretext for war would suffer a serious setback whenever the NIE would be published, so that a new pretext needed to be pressed hard." (Jim Lobe ‘Realist Revenge’ http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=82 December 05, 2007).
August 2007.
"President George W. Bush was told in August that Iran may have suspended its nuclear weapons program, the White House said on Wednesday, a day after Bush said he was not given a full report on the issue. During a news conference on Tuesday, Bush said he was informed of the intelligence report last week, but said U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell told him in August there was new information on Iran. "He didn't tell me what the information was. He did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze," Bush said." (Tabassum Zakaria ‘Bush told in Aug Iran may have halted nuclear program’ http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071206/ts_nm/iran_usa_bush_timing_dc December 05, 2007); "Bush was given the new NIE on Iran last August." (Eric Margolis ‘Final disgrace for Bush & Co http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/12/09/4715227-sun.php December 9, 2007).
September 2007.
"In October, he charged that Iran’s nuclear weapons program was bringing the world to the precipice of World War III, even though the White House had been informed at least a month earlier that Iran had no such program and had stopped efforts to develop one back in 2003. Is it conceivable that Bush was telling the truth at his press conference Tuesday when he stated that he learned of the National Intelligence Estimate report, which contained that inconvenient fact, only last week?" (Robert Scheer ‘It Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One’ http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071204_it_turns_out_ahmadinejad_is_honest/ December 4, 2007).
Summary of NIE’s Political Implications.
No Sanctions against Iran.
Gone is even the pretext for more stringent sanctions. God knows, perhaps even the existing feeble sanctions will be abolished tomorrow." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
No Coalition against Iran.
"In the last few years, a broad coalition against Iran has come into being. Now, before our very eyes, this coalition is crumbling. President Bush is stammering. Gone is the excuse for an American military attack on Iran, the dream of the Israeli government and the neocons." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
No American attack on Iran.
"The war on Iran, which was to be the defining event of 2008, has turned for the time being into a non-event." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007); "The report, so it seems, has swept from the table any possibility of an American and/or Israeli military attack on Iran." (Uri Avnery ‘The Strategic Aim of Israel in Gaza is to Break Hamas. Help! A Ceasefire!’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12242007.html December 24, 2007).
No Jewish attack on Iran.
"The possibility of an independent Israeli military strike against Iran has vanished." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
No Missiles in Europe.
No need for american anti-ballistic missiles in europe to counter iranian (nuclear) missiles.
No need to Rearm Middle East Allies.
With the downgrading of the Iranian threat, the Israeli military has lost its biggest selling point for future funding. And, although it is hardly a deal killer, the rationale for the Bush administration's $60 billion arms sale package to Persian Gulf states, and more military assistance to Israel and Egypt, just became more difficult." (David Isenberg ‘NIE Report Keeps Spreading Its Influence’ http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=4175&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=37&from_page=index.cfm January 14, 2008).
No new money for the American Military.
"For the military and intelligence services, the report is an unmitigated disaster for another reason too. The Iranian bomb plays an indispensable part in the army's annual fight for its massive chunk of the budget cake." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
Netanyahu is going to have to change his Electoral Tactics.
For right-wing demagogues, the effect is even more disheartening. Binyamin Netanyahu has built his whole strategy on the Iranian scare, hoping to ride the Bomb right into the Prime Minister's office." (Uri Avnery ‘Ahmadinejad Has Screwed Us Again! How They Stole the Bomb From Us’ http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery12102007.html December 10, 2007).
Allies Lose trust in the Bush Regime.
"There is also a "bad news, bad news" aspect to this. The essence of the NIE's findings would have been part of the President's Daily Brief, regular and ad hoc CIA intelligence products, as well as those produced by the State Department Intelligence and Research bureau and other agencies. These then would have been shared with the principal administration players in the efforts to claim that Iran had a nuclear weapon program, including even foreign intelligence services, thus informing players among the E3 nations. So the classic Watergate question of what did the White House know and when did it know it extends to people such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, or possibly even to E3 negotiator Javier Solana. But if we had been keeping this information from our allies, this will destroy the remaining shreds of trust in the United States as a strategic ally. The fallout for intelligence cooperation will be immense. On top of everything that happened with regard to the intelligence scandals leading up to the invasion of Iraq, what foreign intelligence service will trust the United States in the future?" (David Isenberg ‘NIE Report Keeps Spreading Its Influence’ http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=4175&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=37&from_page=index.cfm January 14, 2008).
102. Jewish Reactions to the NIE.
Ehud Barak rejects NIE Conclusions: December 4, 2007.
"The defence minister, Ehud Barak, flatly rejected the US findings yesterday: "It's apparently true that in 2003 Iran stopped pursuing its military nuclear programme for a time. But in our opinion, since then it has apparently continued that programme."" (Simon Tisdall ‘The A-bomb that wasn't’ http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_tisdall/2007/12/the_abomb_that_wasnt.html December 4, 2007); "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." (Eric Margolis ‘Final disgrace for Bush & Co http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2007/12/09/4715227-sun.php December 9, 2007).
Jews speculating about the need for a Military attack on Iran: December 7, 2007.
"Senior Israeli officials warned today they were still considering the option of a military strike against Iran, despite a fresh US intelligence report that concluded Tehran was no longer developing nuclear weapons. Israeli officials quickly offered a direct challenge. Ehud Barak, the defence minister, said although Iran's nuclear programme was halted in 2003 "as far as we know it has probably since revived it". Some have suggested that with Israel feeling isolated by its hardline stance on Iran, it might be more inclined to launch a unilateral military strike and a comparison is frequently drawn to Israel's 1981 bombing of Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. David Albright, a former UN nuclear inspector, said this week if Israel felt its "red line" had been crossed it might strike. "They may force a military confrontation," he told the Associated Press agency." (Rory McCarthy ‘Israel considering strike on Iran despite US intelligence report’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2224052,00.html December 7, 2007).
Prosor can’t let go of the idea that Iran will get Nukes soon: December 7, 2007.
"Israel has warned Iran to either co-operate with the West over its uranium enrichment program or face military action. Ron Prosor, Israel's newly appointed ambassador to Britain and one of his country's leading experts on Iran's nuclear program, said that Tehran could enrich enough uranium to make an atomic bomb by 2009. "At the current rate of progress, Iran will reach the technical threshold for producing fissile material by 2009," he said. "This is a global threat and it requires a global response. "It should be made clear that if Iran does not co-operate, then military confrontation is inevitable. It is either co-operation or confrontation." Mr Prosor, who served Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, as his senior adviser on Iran, said that time for resolving the nuclear issue was rapidly running out. But he was non-committal about the possibility of Israel launching military action." (Con Coughlin and David Sanger ‘Israel warns Iran to co-operate or pay price’ http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/israel-warns-iran-to-cooperate-or-pay-price/2007/12/06/1196812921134.html December 7, 2007); "It must be clear that if Iran does not cooperate with the West on the nuclear issue, military confrontation will be unavoidable, incoming Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, was quoted as saying Sunday. Prosor, who served as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's senior adviser on Iran, told the Sunday Telegraph that Teheran could enrich enough uranium to make an atomic bomb by 2009. "At the current rate of progress Iran will reach the technical threshold for producing fissile material by 2009," he told the British newspaper. "This is a global threat and it requires a global response. It should be made clear that if Iran does not co-operate then military confrontation is inevitable. It is either co-operation or confrontation."" (‘Prosor: War with Iran may be unavoidable’ http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847289613&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull December 09, 2007).
Jews can’t accept Iran doesn’t have a Nuclear Weapons Programme: December 07, 2007.
"The paper (Time) quoted Israeli intelligence sources who said Iran had been the top priority of the Mossad for the past five years, and the organization assessed that Teheran's nuclear weapons program was very much alive and could produce a nuclear weapon by 2009. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Army Radio that while Iran may have halted development of nuclear weapons four years ago, it has probably revived the program since then. "We are talking about a specific track connected with their weapons building program, to which the American [intelligence] connection, and maybe that of others, was severed," he said." ('US report ended attack option on Iran' http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847277347&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter December 07, 2007).
Ephraim Sneh and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer: December 07, 2007.
"The US National Intelligence Estimate's assertion that Iran currently does not have a nuclear weapons program has caused much frustration in Israel. Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh referred to the report as a lie at a recent breakfast in New York, and Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer reportedly "doesn't buy" its findings." (Trita Parsi ‘Is Iran NIE a Blessing in Disguise for Israel?’ http://www.antiwar.com/ips/parsi.php?articleid=12018 December 7, 2007).
Jews’ Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi threatens War: December 13, 2007.
"Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi called for international pressure on Iran, but said that the IDF recognized the need to prepare in the event that global efforts fail. "The international community must act with determination to stop the nuclearization of Iran, but should this action not succeed, we in the Israel Defence Forces must prepare for any scenario," Ashkenazi said. "In the coming years the need to strike at significant long-range targets will become far more important, therefore the capability to act both defensively and offensively against various threats will be upgraded greatly with a strong emphasis on long-range capability," he said without elaborating." (Yossi Melman ‘Israeli official: U.S. is not doing enough on Iran nukes’ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/934049.html December 13, 2007).
Warmongering, Paranoid, Jews intent on driving America into Death and Destruction (for the benefit of the Jews-only State): December 13, 2007.
"A senior Israeli official has fiercely criticized U.S. President George Bush's administration for the way it has dealt with the Iranian nuclear issue. The official said that the administration was not doing what was required of it to create an international coalition and wide agreement to pressure Iran over its nuclear program. Criticism from senior members of Israel's political echelon with regard to U.S. policy on the matter is rare. The official mainly spoke out against Bush's failure to enlist support from China, Russia and, to a certain extent, India, for increasing pressure on Iran and North Korea. According to the official, the Bush administration has insisted on stressing matters such as human rights in China and its policy on Taiwan, and as a result, has neglected to gain its support in the struggle against Iran. The official added that the approach of the Bush administration has been the same toward Russia, focusing on human rights and on the federation's struggles with Chechnya, thus allowing both China and Russia to take a "negativistic" approach to the Americans." (Yossi Melman ‘Israeli official: U.S. is not doing enough on Iran nukes’ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/934049.html December 13, 2007).
New Jewish Policy on Iran: December 14, 2007.
"Mr Olmert was in effect announcing a departure from the policy Israel maintained over the past few years, formulated by ex-prime minister Ariel Sharon. This put forward the view that the Iranian nuclear programme was "the world’s problem" and that Israel should be careful not to be seen as the prime motivator of pressure on Iran. Now it is clear to the decision-makers that Israel has to be a lot more energetic in convincing the international community and public opinion that Iran is still intent on building a bomb. "Israel has been pushed into the centre of the world’s attention by the American intelligence report," one government adviser told the JC. "It would have been much better if the Americans and Europeans had acted on this earlier and with more vigour," said another diplomatic source, "but that was an unrealistic expectation. It was the right thing to say at the time, but the problem was that, for too long, the government actually believed that message and only over the last few months has the Iranian issue gone to the top of the agenda. The American report was a last wake-up call for whoever still needed it that Israel has to rely on itself first in this. For the Americans, an Iranian bomb is a serious threat to their interests; for us it’s a serious threat to our very existence." (Anshel Pfeffer ‘Israel unveils new strategy on Iran’ http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s19&SecId=19&AId=56976&ATypeId=1 December 14, 2007).
Jews pressing world to ignore NIE - December 14, 2007.
"Israel is working together with the United States administration and the British and French governments to counter the effect caused by the US National Intelligence Estimate report last week, which stated that Iran had stopped its military nuclear programme in 2003. The report has also changed Israel’s diplomatic policy towards the Iranian threat. Senior officials from all four governments were in contact last week immediately following the report’s publication to coordinate steps to minimise its effect. US National Security adviser Stephen Hadley and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s chief of staff, Yoram Turbovich, were involved in planning the two governments’ subsequent actions together with British and French officials. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s statement last week that Iran was still in defiance of the international community, and therefore Britain would seek further sanctions, was also part of these efforts, as was the publicity attached to Binyamin Netanyahu’s meeting on Monday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the Iranian issue." (Anshel Pfeffer ‘Israel unveils new strategy on Iran’ http://www.thejc.com/home.aspx?ParentId=m11s19&SecId=19&AId=56976&ATypeId=1 December 14, 2007).
Avi Dichter, Public Security Minister threatens War: December 16, 2007.
"Israel's prime minister told his cabinet Sunday to tone down criticism of a U.S. intelligence report concluding that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapons program, an attempt to keep the disagreement from getting out of hand. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's instructions came after one of his ministers warned that the U.S. report could trigger a war. At the same time, officials said an intelligence delegation is in the U.S. to press Israel's case that Iran is still working on a nuclear bomb. The developments underlined the dilemma Israel faces over how to handle serious differences with its main ally over a key security issue. Without contradicting his own intelligence, President Bush has been sympathetic to the Israeli view that Iran is still dangerous. At Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting, Olmert indirectly rebuked Public Security Minister Avi Dichter for publicly criticizing the U.S. report as a "misconception" that could lead to a surprise regional war. "Something went wrong in the American blueprint for analyzing the severity of the Iranian nuclear threat," Dichter, a former head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency, said in a speech Saturday." (Mark Lavie ‘Israel plays down split with US on Iran’ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_us_iran December 16, 2007); "The statements by Israeli officials concerning the recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran and its nuclear program are perhaps the best manifestation of this reality. Avi Dichter, Israel's public security minister, has condemned the NIE as a flawed document, and in terms that link the American analysis to a cause-and-effect cycle that could lead the Middle East down the path of regional war. Like many Israelis, including the prime minister, Dichter disagrees with the American NIE on Iran, in particular the finding that Iran ceased its nuclear weapons program in 2003. The Israelis hold that this program is still active, despite the fact that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reached a conclusion similar to the NIE's based upon its own exhaustive inspection activities inside Iran over the past five years. In threatening the world with war because America opted for once to embrace fact instead of fiction, Israel, sadly, has become like a cornered beast, lashing out at any and all it perceives to threaten its security interests. The current Israeli definition of what constitutes its security interests is so broad as to preclude any difference of opinion." (Scott Ritter ‘US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel’ http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ritter.php?articleid=12064 December 17, 2007).
Jews still pushing America towards War: December 17, 2007.
"Israel at present can have no friends, because Israel does not know how to be a friend. Driven by xenophobic paranoia and historical grievances, Israel is embarked on a path that can only lead to death and destruction. This is a path the United States should not tread. I have always taken the position that Israel is a friend of the United States, and that friends should always stand up for one another, even in difficult times. I have also noted that, to quote a phrase well known in America, friends don't let friends drive drunk, and that for some time now Israel has been drunk on arrogance and power. As a friend, I have believed the best course of action for the United States to take would be that which helped remove the keys from the ignition of the policy vehicle Israel is steering toward the edge of the abyss. Now it seems our old friend is holding a pistol to our head, demanding that we stop interfering with the vehicle's operation and preventing us from getting out of the car. This is not the action of a friend, and it can no longer be tolerated." (Scott Ritter ‘US Must Reevaluate Its Relationship With Israel’ http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ritter.php?articleid=12064 December 17, 2007).
Jews have "rock solid" evidence against Iran: January 6, 2008.
"Israeli security officials are to brief President George W Bush on their latest intelligence about Iran’s nuclear programme, and how it could be destroyed, when he begins a tour of the Middle East in Jerusalem this week. Ehud Barak, the defence minister, is said to want to convince him that an Israeli military strike against uranium enrichment facilities in Iran would be feasible if diplomatic efforts failed to halt nuclear operations. A range of military options has been prepared. Israeli intelligence is understood to agree that the project was halted around the time of America’s invasion of Iraq, but has "rock solid" information that it has since started up again." (Uzi Mahnaimi ‘Israel to brief George Bush on options for Iran strike’ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3137521.ece January 6, 2008).
Jews believe Iran has been on the verge of acquiring Nukes for last twenty Years: January 14, 2008.
Meanwhile, the Israelis are upset that the Americans think a military strike is now "off the table." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made it clear that Israel is basing its policy on its assessment that Iran would achieve military nuclear capability by 2009 or 2010. Nobody mentioned that previous Israeli assessments had been declaring Iranian nuclear capability as only a year or two away for about a decade." (David Isenberg ‘NIE Report Keeps Spreading Its Influence’ http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=4175&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=D.DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=37&from_page=index.cfm January 14, 2008).
103. Gates believes Iran’s Non-existent Nuclear Weapons are more of a threat than the Jews all too real, but allegedly non-existent, Nuclear Weapons - December 8, 2007.
"U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates defended Israel's reputed nuclear program on Saturday, saying Israel did not seek to destroy its neighbors or support terrorism, unlike Iran. Asked at an international security conference in Bahrain on Saturday whether he thought Israel's nuclear program posed a threat to the region, Gates replied: "No, I do not." The statement was greeted by laughter from a room filled with government officials from Middle Eastern countries. Gates did not specifically mention Israel's nuclear weapons or arsenal, but responded to questions about its "nuclear program", giving the Pentagon chief room to dismiss any suggestion that he implicitly confirmed the existence of nuclear weapons in Israel." (‘Gates: Israel doesn't pose nuclear threat like Iran’ http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932361.html December 08, 2007).
104. Bush won’t applaud Iran for giving up a Nuclear Programme - December 11, 2007.
"President Bush on Tuesday called on Iran to explain why it had a secretive nuclear weapons program, and warned that any such efforts must not be allowed to flourish "for the sake of world peace." "Iran is dangerous," Bush said after an Oval Office meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. "We believe Iran had a secret military weapons program, and Iran must explain to the world why they had a program." (Ben Feller ‘Bush demands Iran explain nuke program’ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_14 December 11, 2007).
105. Russia delivers Nuclear Fuel to Iran - December 17, 2007.
"Russia has made its first shipment of nuclear fuel to an Iranian nuclear power plant at the center of the international tensions over Tehran's atomic program, the Foreign Ministry said Monday. The United States said the Russian delivery gave Iran another reason to suspend its enrichment program. The U.S. has been unhappy about Russia helping Iran build the Bushehr nuclear plant. But President Bush has supported Russia in providing uranium fuel to Iran, but only if Moscow retrieves the used reactor fuel for reprocessing." (Russia makes first nuclear fuel shipment to Iran’ http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-12-17-russia-iran_N.htm December 17, 2007).
106. Pentagon back to abusing Iran - December 19, 2007.
"The US Defence Department says Iran is continuing to send weapons and sophisticated technology to insurgents in Iraq. In its latest report to Congress, the Pentagon said there had been no decrease in Iranian support for insurgents despite a promise made in September by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The report calls Tehran's backing a significant impediment to stabilising security in Iraq." (‘US says Iran still sending weapons to Iraq’ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/19/2123173.htm?section=justin December 19, 2007).
107. Gregory L. Schulte keeping up the Pressure on Iran - December 22, 2007.
"An American official said Friday that a secret Iranian nuclear arms program that United States intelligence agencies believe had been halted in 2003 could easily be revived because of later curbs on United Nations inspections in the country. The official, Gregory L. Schulte, the American ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, challenged suggestions that the American agencies’ National Intelligence Estimate, disclosed Dec. 3, reduced the urgency of reining in Iran with I.A.E.A. investigations, United Nations sanctions and hard-nosed diplomacy." (‘U.S. Envoy Says Iran Could Revive Halted Nuclear Arms Program’ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/world/middleeast/22iran.html?ex=1355979600&en=3c3c80a338f8d8bd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss December 22, 2007).
Labels: a proxy zionist war against Iran, Sanctions against Iran, the likudnik dominated bush regime, the National Intelligence Estimate
posted by The Mundi Club at 10:11 AM
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