Free Republic

Late in the day Tuesday, CNN breathlessly ran their favorite story since the Trump-Musk bromance hit the skids. "Exclusive: Early US intel assessment suggests strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, sources say." CNN’s “reporters” could barely contain their excitement that their nightmare scenario was over: Trump, it appeared, hadn’t pulled off the most impressive military strike since "Operation Desert Fox." ("Desert Fox" was a 1998 anti-WMD mission, also used Tomahawks for support, but used 600 sorties to target almost 100 targets in Iraq. And as with "Operation Midnight Hammer," not a single U.S. service member or vehicle was...

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The big question at this hour: Is the U.S. planning to invade Iraq sometime next year? While White House officials are downplaying a "New York Times" report that says the U.S. is considering a major air and ground assault for next year that could include as many as 250,000 American troops. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein celebrated his 65th birthday over the weekend with the usual well-choreographed tributes from the Iraqi people. And, in Baghdad, tens of thousands of people marched as a show of support and defiance in the face of U.S. determination to topple Hussein. Ambassador...

The Defense Intelligence Agency has produced a 5-page preliminary report on the strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities which concludes the strikes were partially successful but failed to destroy the underground sites. That report seems to have leaked instantly to ever major news agency, starting with CNN.The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes, one of the sources said...Two of the people familiar with the assessment said Iran’s stockpile of...

Trump administration officials on Tuesday slammed a leaked preliminary intelligence assessment of the damage done to Iran’s nuclear facilities by weekend US airstrikes that the president has touted as a massive success. The classified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) bomb damage assessment — deemed a “low confidence” estimation of the effectiveness of Saturday’s strikes on the Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz sites — reportedly determined that Iran could bring its nuclear program back online as quickly as within one to two months, according to Fox News. On the high end, estimates indicate that Iran could restart uranium enrichment within a year, according...

A ‘Top Secret’ Intelligence assessment about the US’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites was leaked to CNN, and CNN disclosed it on live TV on Tuesday. .... Snip.... On Tuesday, a ‘top secret’ intel assessment of the Fordow plant was leaked to CNN, AP, and the New York Times. CNN reported that, according to a leak, an early assessment from the Pentagon’s intelligence arm revealed Iran’s nuclear sites are ‘largely intact’ and the US strikes only set them back a few months. A leak to the AP also claimed that Iran’s nuclear program was not ‘completely and fully obliterated.’ White...