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http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html

Thanks to a Special Emailer for pointing to this press release.

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://hoekstra.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=171094

Hoekstra Presses Call for ‘Iran Red Team’ After New IAEA Report on Iranian Nuclear Program

Washington, Feb 19 - U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, today issued the following statement concerning a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s nuclear program.

“Yesterday’s IAEA report shows the urgency of dealing with the real threat posed by Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. The Obama administration’s engagement strategy with Iran has clearly failed. It is time for us to work with our allies to impose stiff economic sanctions.

“The IAEA report also illustrates the abject failure of the U.S. intelligence community in analyzing this threat. The report’s finding about ‘the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile’ is a stunning indictment of the 2007 Iran National Intelligence Estimate which found Iran’s nuclear weapons program had been halted in 2003. I have no confidence that the next edition of this NIE — scheduled to come out over the next few weeks — will be any better.

“When the IAEA, a United Nations body, is issuing reports that are more definitive than the US intelligence community, something is clearly wrong. The solution is to set up a “Red Team” of non-government experts to review US intelligence on an Iranian nuclear weapons program and issue an independent report. There is precedent for such an outside review which I believe would help improve and restore confidence in U.S. intelligence analysis.

“I call on my colleagues in Congress and President Obama to support the creation of a Red Team to assess intelligence on the Iranian nuclear program as soon as possible.”
-30-

Editor’s note: Congressman Hoekstra first called for a Red Team to assess intelligence on Iran’s nuclear weapons program on October 6, 2009 following revelations of Iran’s secret uranium enrichment facility in the city of Qom. CLICK HERE to see this press release for details. Hoekstra’s call for a Red Team was endorsed by former State Department Assistant Secretary Paula DeSutter in THIS October 28, 2009 Washington Times op-ed.

Editor’s note: Congressman Hoekstra first called for a Red Team to assess intelligence on Iran’s nuclear weapons program on October 6, 2009 following revelations of Iran’s secret uranium enrichment facility in the city of Qom. to see this press release for details. Hoekstra’s call for a Red Team was endorsed by former State Department Assistant Secretary Paula DeSutter in October 28, 2009 op-ed.

Stepping back in time...

Note: The following press release is a quote:

http://hoekstra.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=148567

Hoekstra Calls for Independent Red Team on Iran Nuclear Issue

Washington, Oct 6, 2009 - U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, today issued the following statement calling for an independent Red Team made up of outside experts to examine the recent revelations about Iran’s nuclear weapons program and to ensure confidence in American intelligence analysis on the threat a nuclear-armed Iran poses to international security:

“New revelations about Iran’s nuclear weapons program are presenting our elected leaders and our intelligence agencies with a crisis of confidence – a crisis that would not exist if they had objectively looked at the evidence about Iran’s nuclear program like the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence did in 2006.

“Obama administration officials, some members of Congress and the media are claiming that new facts about the Iranian nuclear program have caused them to change their minds and conclude Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. These facts are a new, “secret” International Atomic Energy Agency report that allegedly found that Iran is now capable of constructing a nuclear weapon and information that Iran has built a covert uranium enrichment facility as “smoking guns” to justify multilateral action against Iran. However, despite this new information, the U.S. Intelligence Community is sticking by the widely discredited conclusion of its November 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

“The fact that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons is not news. HPSCI came to this conclusion in August 2006 when it issued an unclassified, bipartisan report ‘Recognizing Iran as a Strategic Threat: An Intelligence Challenge for the United States.’ The report found that:

‘Iran’s efforts since December 2005 to resume enrichment of uranium, in defiance of the international community, Tehran’s willingness to endure international condemnation, isolation, and economic disruptions in order to carry out nuclear activities covertly indicates Iran is developing nuclear weapons.’

“The evidence HPSCI used mostly came from unclassified IAEA reports. Although I have also been briefed on a substantial amount of classified information about Iran’s nuclear program, the unclassified information we used in this report was more than sufficient to establish in 2006 that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons.

“Those who are claiming to have experienced an epiphany on the dangers of Iran’s nuclear weapons program due to the Qom revelation and the secret IAEA report need to admit that this information is just as serious as the dozen or so other revelations that have surfaced about the Iranian nuclear program since 2002. The only real game changer is the fact that George W. Bush is no longer president. This is the only reason that the American left, career State Department officials, and the IAEA have played down Iran’s nuclear weapons program until now. They ignored the evidence because they did not want to admit that President Bush was right.

“The U.S. Intelligence Community’s analysis of this question is a bigger problem. Our intelligence analysts seem to be stuck in an analytical rut and unwilling to alter their corporate line on Iran’s nuclear program despite a preponderance of evidence and the fact that America’s allies strongly disagree with their assessment that Iran’s nuclear weapons program was halted in 2003. I propose this problem be addressed by establishing a “red team” of independent experts to challenge the career intelligence analysts’ assessment of the Iranian nuclear program. The Red Team would be a diverse group drawn from organizations such as the Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute, the Hoover Institute, and Harvard’s JFK School. It would be granted full security clearances and issue a report with its conclusions.

“This Red Team initiative would lend confidence and clarity to the work of our intelligence professionals on the difficult question of Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. It is my hope that there will be bipartisan support in Congress for setting up this important national security exercise as soon as possible.”