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Is the Administration Playing Down the Iran Threat?

August 23rd, 2006 at 10:28 by MsUnderestimated

Breaking from Drudge right now, coming up from New York Times writer Mark Mazetti, for release tomorrow. From the story:

Some in G.O.P. Say Iran Threat Is Played Down

Some senior Bush administration officials and top Republican lawmakers are voicing anger that American spy agencies have not issued more ominous warnings about the threats that they say Iran presents to the United States.

Some policy makers have accused intelligence agencies of playing down Iran’s role in Hezbollah’s recent attacks against Israel and overestimating the time it would take for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

The complaints, expressed privately in recent weeks, surfaced in a Congressional report about Iran released Wednesday. They echo the tensions that divided the administration and the Central Intelligence Agency during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

The criticisms reflect the views of some officials inside the White House and the Pentagon who advocated going to war with Iraq and now are pressing for confronting Iran directly over its nuclear program and ties to terrorism, say officials with knowledge of the debate.

The dissonance is surfacing just as the intelligence agencies are overhauling their procedures to prevent a repeat of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate — the faulty assessment that in part set the United States on the path to war with Iraq.

The new report, from the House Intelligence Committee, led by Representative Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, portrayed Iran as a growing threat and criticized American spy agencies for cautious assessments about Iran’s weapons programs. “Intelligence community managers and analysts must provide their best analytical judgments about Iranian W.M.D. programs and not shy away from provocative conclusions or bury disagreements in consensus assessments,” the report said, using the abbreviation for weapons of mass destruction like nuclear arms.

We’ll just wait and see how all this plays out. It’s too early to tell. Who knows? Click he link here to read the whole story. I reported, so you decide. I personally think we’re letting Iran get away with waaaaay too much! The time for carrots and sticks is done - it’s now time for U.S. firepower, perhaps even bunker-busting nukes. Ahmadinetard is most definitely crazy, but we still need to take him out.

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Flopping Aces
August 24, 2006 at 2:50 pm

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