It seems that every intelligence report issued over Iraq or Iran has created a rush of conclusion as if the DJ just put on a favorite on the dance floor while the others just wait for the next report that fits their agenda. According to this article in the LA Times this morning, the music is still playing over the PARTIAL NIE report that was just released this week regarding Iran and their nuclear program.
Doves find fault with Iran report too
Some experts fear the intelligence estimate will sap international pressure to prevent Tehran from getting nuclear weapons.
By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — The new U.S. intelligence report that says Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 is suddenly raising concerns among the political center and left, as well as conservatives who have long called for a hard line against the Islamic Republic.
Moderate and liberal foreign policy experts said that U.S. intelligence agencies, possibly eager to demonstrate independence from White House political pressure, may have produced a National Intelligence Estimate that is more reassuring than it should be on the potential risks of the Iranian nuclear program.
[...]
Iran expert Ray Takeyh, a former professor at the National War College and National Defense University, said that although his own politics are left of the president’s, he agrees with Bush that Iran’s nuclear program is a continuing threat.
“The position I take is that President Bush is right on this,” said Takeyh, now at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Takeyh, who has long argued for engaging Iran in diplomacy, said the intelligence report was too easy on Tehran by not objecting to the uranium enrichment program, which many Western governments have alleged is meant to build the knowledge base to eventually develop nuclear weapons. The American intelligence agencies, in effect, accepted Iran’s contention that the enrichment is for peaceful purposes, Takeyh said.
[...]
Sharon Squassoni, a former government nuclear safeguards expert now with the generally liberal Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, noted that the intelligence report said Iran suspended its enrichment program in 2003 and later signed an agreement allowing U.N. inspections.
But, she said, the portion of the report made public was silent on the fact that the Iranians reversed both actions in 2006. (more…)
Now what is going to be interesting to watch is the response of some presidential candidates who have already concluded that this latest report was the complete gospel truth.
