Thread: Ahmadinejawhackjob Wants To Share Nukes With Middle East

conventional wisdom has is that cheney's office had been delaying the release NIE because they didn't like the results.
however, adults are back in charge of foreign policy and intelligence analysis...finally.

Iran welcomes new US intelligence report

Iran welcomes new US intelligence report - Yahoo! News

Then, U.S. intelligence agencies believed Tehran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program. The new report concludes that Iran's decisions are rational and pragmatic, and that Tehran is more susceptible to diplomatic and financial pressure than previously thought.

Well, I'll be buggered. This makes Bush look like a hair-trigger fool again. I would think any republican presidential candidates would try to distance themselves greatly from him for the election. I think he's done a disservice to the Republican party and to the country with his sabre rattling and unfounded war mongering, if this report is to be believed.

Originally Posted by chinthee

I would think any republican presidential candidates would try to distance themselves greatly from him for the election.

have you been watching any of the republican debates.....his name is rarely (if ever) mentioned.

Originally Posted by chinthee

I think he's done a disservice to the Republican party and to the country with his sabre rattling and unfounded war mongering, if this report is to be believed.

just a few weeks ago he was talking about world war 3.

the man and his administration are a menace.

^Isn't this the same intelligence community that said Saddam had WMDs?

Originally Posted by Mr Earl

^Isn't this the same intelligence community that said Saddam had WMDs?

And he did.
Just schlepped 'em out to Syria before our boys arrived.
But don't tell ray and the usual crowd. They'd like to keep living the fantasy that Saddam was really not that bad a guy...

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

But don't tell ray and the usual crowd. They'd like to keep living the fantasy that Saddam was really not that bad a guy

yawn.

what did bush know, and when did he know it?

taken from yesterday's news conference..

Q.....on October 17th, you warned about the prospect of World War III, when months before you made that statement, this intelligence about them suspending their weapons program back in '03 had already come to light to this administration. So can't you be accused of hyping this threat? And don't you worry that that undermines U.S. credibility?

THE PRESIDENT:....... I was made aware of the NIE last week. In August, I think it was Mike McConnell came in and said, we have some new information. He didn't tell me what the information was

so mcconnell comes to the president and says, "i've got new information on iran"....and the president doesn't ask him what it is? he doesn't ask if it is information that supports or undermines previous information? even for someone infamous for his lack of intellectual curiosity, this is hard to believe.

and here's the next question bush took...

Q Mr. President, thank you. Just to follow, I understand what you're saying about when you were informed about the NIE. Are you saying at no point while the rhetoric was escalating, as "World War III" was making it into conversation, at no point nobody from your intelligence team or your administration was saying, maybe you want to back it down a little bit?
THE PRESIDENT: No, nobody ever told me that.

does anyone really believe that?

Press Conference by the President

here's cheney in mid-october....

"the inescapable reality of Iran's nuclear program; a program they claim is strictly for energy purposes, but which they have worked hard to conceal; a program carried out in complete defiance of the international community and resolutions of the U.N. Security Council. Iran is pursuing technology that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. The world knows this. . . .

Vice President's Remarks to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

I'm afraid the credibility of Cheney and Rice have been irrevocably damaged by this latest blunder. And, of course the chief executive has to take the brunt of it.

Looking forward to next year's elections, though not that much given the choices....

Democrats incredulous over Bush's account of Iran report

"Are you telling me a president that's briefed every single morning, who's fixated on Iran, is not told back in August that the tentative conclusion of 16 intelligence agencies in the U.S. government said they had abandoned their effort for a nuclear weapon in '03?" Biden asked in a conference call with reporters.

"I refuse to believe that," he added. "If that's true, he has the most incompetent staff in modern American history, and he's one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history."

Democrats incredulous over Bush's account of Iran report - CNN.com

I really don't see how Bush is going to get out of this one. He's busted. He's not the teflon President.

The

Originally Posted by chinthee

16 intelligence agencies

involved are not going to do Bush & Cheney's bidding again, a la George Tenet, tell them what they want to hear and then have to take the fall over the results.

Amazingly (well not really) Cheney wanted this report withheld from the public too.

This is a ringing endorsement that the US system of checks and balances is still alive and well. The fact that the intelligence services have said fuk u to Bush and let him and his admin take the fall from now on is quite a reassurance.

Achmadincrap is gloating like a bleating goat today claiming victory. I would say he's right.

And...yet, this now this morning...

US wins support for new pressure on Iran

NATO foreign ministers agreed to stay the course in seeking fresh measures at the United Nations to persuade Iran to stop uranium enrichment and reprocessing despite a new U.S. intelligence report that concluded the country halted it nuclear weapons ambitions in 2003.

US wins support for new pressure on Iran - Yahoo! News

They prolly didn't want to waste the time and effort put into formulating the call for new pressure.

The Fact that the West doesn't like it seems almost a moot point now- do they like anyone in the ME except Israel being anything but reliant on Western technology anyway? China does not mind, and Russia is prepared to build a reactor for them.

Now it has been established that Iran was telling the truth, the same old economically viable reasons for them getting nuclear energy that applied all along come to the fore. I guess Israel remains the joker in the pack, but with a resumption in negotiations towards Palestinian statehood underway, I can't see any upside in them taking rash military action.

Given that it is an abysmal lack of internal refining capacity that is propelling Iran down this route, it is noteworthy that no western power has even mentioned the possibility of bribing Iran out of going nuclear by installing oil refining capacity for them. Which tends to support my contention that western foreign policy towards the ME is largely to keep them pumping oil, but technologically dependent.

It is also telling that the only ME nations the West is baying for a western style democracy are regimes they are at loggerheads with. We seem quite comfortable with the autocratic but compliant regimes in Saudi and the UAE.

Iran Assessment Creates an Israeli Headache

By TIM MCGIRK/JERUSALEM Fri Dec 7, 1:50 AM ET

Israeli officials were shocked and disappointed by the U.S. intelligence agencies' report downgrading the risk of Iran building nuclear weapons. That's because not only do some of the key conclusions of the latest National Intelligence Estimate undercut some of Israel's own assessments, they also seem to dim the likelihood of the U.S. taking military action against Iran's nuclear facilities - a step the Israelis had been quietly urging the White House should sanctions fail to stop Iran's uranium enrichment program. With the new U.S. assessment, one Israeli cabinet official told TIME, "It looks like this ends the military option against Iran for now. Israel won't attack alone. Iran's facilities are too many and spread too far apart."

Iran Assessment Creates an Israeli Headache - Yahoo! News

Don't follow your logic Sabang...
Are you suggesting Iran, a soon-to-be nuclear capable country doesn't have the technology for refining oil?

The first major crack in the Saudi-US alliance will appear if/when Saudi shops elsewhere for it's military. They have damn near everything the US has, but newer. After several decades of fragile partnership, the US has bugged out of Saudi too, which makes airfield access in Iraq even more strategically important. I characterize that partnership as fragile because Saudis never conceded a permanent western presence -- a fickle little name game that meant even into the 2000's we (US, UK, Fra) would go there and have to live in tents for 6-8 months at a time. Nothing permanent.

Makes sense. But then you have to wonder if it would make more sense to invest in refineries or nuke plants. But that's their decision and I don't see the IAEA or any diplomatic efforts putting up hurdles in that regard.

^,^^ Yes, refineries are massive, complex and expensive affairs requiring European or American knowledge to do the best state of the art facilities.

To build these requires an open trading situation with the country.