Uh huh, sure.... 
Posted on 03/21/2008 6:39:32 AM PDT by edpc
President Bush said Thursday that Iran has declared that it wants to be a nuclear power with a weapon to "destroy people," including others in the Middle East, contradicting the judgments of a recent U.S. intelligence estimate.
The president spoke in an interview intended to reach out to the Iranian public on the Persian new year and to express "moral support" for struggling freedom movements, particularly among youth and women. It was designed to stress U.S. support for Iran's quest for nuclear energy and the prospects that Washington and Tehran can "reconcile their differences" if Iran cooperates with the international community to ensure that the effort is not converted into a weapons program.
But most striking was Bush's accusation that Iran has openly declared its nuclear weapons intentions, even though a National Intelligence Estimate concluded in December that Iran had stopped its weapons program in 2003, a major reversal in the long-standing U.S. assessment.
"They've declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy people -- some in the Middle East. And that's unacceptable to the United States, and it's unacceptable to the world," Bush told U.S.-funded Radio Farda, which broadcasts into Iran in Farsi.
Experts on Iran and nuclear proliferation said the president's statement was wrong. "That's as uninformed as [Sen. John] McCain's statement that Iran is training al-Qaeda. Iran has never said it wanted a nuclear weapon for any reason. It's just not true. It's a little troubling that the president and the leading Republican candidate are both so wrong about Iran," said Joseph Cirincione, president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Well, at least the goats will be spared.
Uh huh, sure....
“even though a National Intelligence Estimate concluded in December that Iran had stopped its weapons program in 2003, a major reversal in the long-standing U.S. assessment.”
Leave it to Robin Wright to repeat that misinformation.
She expresses the same old Liberal attitude of ‘let’s not do anything to make the terrorists mad at us’, when she says, “Bush’s statement on Iran’s nuclear intentions could escalate tensions”. What a joke! Hello, Robin? “Death to America!” Does that ring a bell? The thugs running Iran have been escalating tensions for 30 yrs!
“Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation”
Lol.
San Francisco philanthropist Sally Lilienthal founded the Ploughshares Fund in 1981 to enable individual contributors to pool their resources and provide support for the most effective initiatives for preventing the spread and use of nuclear weapons.
All the Peaceniks back then were convinced Reagan was going to start a nuclear war with the USSR.
It seems to me that the American people, with the help of the MSM, just do not care.
Yes, sadly we seem to find ourselves in a similar situation as we did in 1945. The public, in general, had ‘war fatigue.’ That led to ignoring the threats on the horizon stemming from communism. I fear the Iranian threat will be similarly ignored until it’s too late. Ennui kills.
The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) titled Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities should receive acclamation for political marketing and condemnation for intelligence value. An intention is a future determination to act in a particular manner. A capability represents possession of sufficient mental and/or physical power to perform an act. Intelligence agencies should contribute information about intentions and capabilities for the policy decision-making tasks of others.
The current NIE becomes a policy determinant by using a data point, belonging to text, and contorting it into the primary judgment. The estimate Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and had not restarted, states past circumstances representing neither intentions nor capabilities. The NIE does not assume Iranian intention to acquire nuclear weapons, but assertions follow of intentions and capabilities to produce weapons grade uranium, solve associated technical problems, and make subsequent political decisions to proceed with program execution. Potential Iranian policy momentums, and present technical capability estimates continually reflected upon the defining Scope statement. Therefore, political exposition, advocating an accommodative policy toward Iran and its aims, retained primary rhetorical stature. The NIE provided baseless political assertion traditional diplomacy caused Iran program suspension. The document avoided accountable assessments of Iran’s intentions.
The report’s political exposition required studied ignorance towards available intelligence data. General Abireza Asgari who defected March 2007 had extensive access to Iran’s nuclear and intelligence secrets. Nowhere does the document qualify statements to recognize traditional security procedures. After his 2005 employment change procedures should limit access to Iran’s nuclear program and intelligence agencies. Defection then required posting bodyguards of deception around continuing operations. An assessment with moderate to high confidence should always require at least two independent sources. Judgments overturning previous assessments should subject data to special scrutiny and skepticism. Obtaining even one trusted source from behind a new security wall within a closed society becomes very unlikely.
Contrary to report assertions, no traditional diplomatic were underway, but military action offered a key incentive during that period by removing the immediately adjacent Taliban and Hussein regimes. The fact Libya eliminated WMD programs, and the supposition Iran halted their nuclear weapons initiatives should acknowledge intentional or unwitting application of war residing on a continuum of diplomacy. Talks, conferences and economic measures serve as war without bloodshed; war serves as diplomacy with bloodshed. Intelligence and espionage provide a medium invigorating all options.
This latest NIE presents another milepost along the way to complete corrosion of U.S. intelligence. The Church and Pike Committees eviscerated the CIA, which can only provide value when operating powerfully within a cunning and ruthless world. Congress under pretense of “reasserting” authority plundered authority given to all presidents since George Washington to conduct clandestine operations. Congressional blindness seeks interminable briefing requests and micro-manages operations. Presidents suffer petulant demands to confirm ever more intelligence officials. Hearings provide the shallow political theater needed for re-election. Without profound catastrophes, there seems little interest to reinvigorate our short of war capabilities.
For effect, we'll add the fact the botched Operation Merlin gave them the blueprints for weapons design. No....we shouldn't have any concerns at all.
Mr. President, declare a new energy crisis and de-regulate: Nuclear plants, offshore drilling and ANWR, domestic drilling. Subsidize biodeisel, coal liquification and refinery build out. We must innovate and give the global consumer what they want Mr. President. We must innovate or die. Want a legacy? Have the Treasury subsidize the alternatives that work with technology that exists today through the SBA and commercial banks. This will create millions of jobs for our service sector and the private equity investors will also jump on board in investing in America, not hedge funds controlled by the majority of the rest of the world.
Oh yeah, what does this have to do with Iran?
A) America cannot afford to keep 140,000 troops in Iraq to fend it off from Iran indefinately
B) When we eventually withdraw, Israel will be attacked, nukes used and real supply and demand economics will crush the American economy for a long, long time.
C) A Democrat will get elected and insure point A & B happens.
Hope you act soon, we need the George Bush cowboy of 911, go out with a solid legacy Mr. President. Every President made a lot of mistakes and Abe Lincoln comes to mind. He was reviled by both North and South for a long, long time until he finally solved the problem.
No problems with any of that, but it doesn’t stop the dangerous plans of the Iranian leadership. Cutting them out of our market will have some effect. However, any solution we come up with will not happen overnight. The people in charge of their regime seem to be hell bent on causing as much chaos as possible in order to bring on the return of their Mahdi.
You are correct, this will not stop the Iranian mullahs from committing suicide as a useful pet/proxy of the revived Russian empire. However, we must first have the long-term resources and funding for an extended conflict, we must innovate and become energy independent or we will be like the empires of Rome, Britain and France. Broke and receeding. We must fix within and the get back to fixing without. Since all fear and now know the true state of our failing financial system, the timing to reach this goal without Congressional/Environmental lobbying is ripe.
However, I do feel we should at least hit Iranian targets in a limited air strike to remind them we will extract a price for their killing of Americans, just as President Reagan did in 1987. Their major gasoline refinery would probably do just fine. Let them spend a few billion playing economic catch-up and demonstrate what will happen when/if they make their moves on our ME allies.
The longer letter reflects the luxury I have of 500 words when writing to the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings. It didn’t get published, though. I did a letter less than half as long to the papers, but I don’t know it got published anywhere.
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