blog:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/12/the_key_question_about_the_nie.html
December 05, 2007
“The Key Question about the NIE’s Key Judgment”
By Herbert E. Meyer
SNIPPET: “In the Intelligence business, you get paid for just one thing: to be right.
So here’s the key question about the Key Judgment of the National Intelligence Council’s new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear intentions and capabilities: Is this judgment supported by the evidence?
The judgment that’s stirring up all the controversy — and it’s a real shocker — comes in the very first sentence: We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program. The judgment is astonishing for two reasons. First, it flies in the face of virtually everything we know - or thought we knew — about the Iranian regime, its capabilities and its intentions. Second, If the new Key Judgment is correct it means that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program fully two years before publication of the National Intelligence Council’s 2005 Estimate on this same subject, which concluded “with high confidence” that Iran “currently is determined to develop nuclear weapons.”
Let’s hope that the new Key Judgment is correct, because it would be very good news for world peace — although it would raise the troubling question of how our Intelligence Community could have been so wrong back in 2005. But if the new Key Judgment is incorrect — in other words, if Iran in fact is now building nuclear weapons — the political impact of its publication will be catastrophic. That’s because it will make it virtually impossible for President Bush to stop the Iranians by launching a military attack on their nuclear facilities or by working covertly to overthrow the regime itself. And, of course, it would raise even more troubling questions about the capabilities of our Intelligence Community.
Skepticism is Warranted”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=aclu
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blog:
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/12/05/shock-aclu-official-files-racial-profiling-lawsuit/
(MSNBC.msn.com)
“Shock: ACLU official files ‘racial profiling’ lawsuit”
POSTED AT 10:58 AM ON DECEMBER 5, 2007 BY BRYAN
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Logan officials say race played no role in the decision to question Downing. The first trooper to ask Downing for identification was black, and three of the four officers who arrived later were also black, according to court documents. The first trooper said he became suspicious when he saw Downing watching him.
Airport officials insisted behavior-pattern recognition helps strengthen security and does not involve racial profiling.
“We welcome the opportunity to defend the program in court,” said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport.”