Israel to brief George Bush on options for Iran strike

"ISRAELI security officials are to brief President George W Bush on their latest intelligence about Iran’s nuclear programme - and how it could be destroyed - when he begins a tour of the Middle East in Jerusalem this week."

Blaming the CIA Won't Work

"Robert Novak's rearranging of facts that have already been contorted by Congressman Hoekstra makes for an interesting read, but the defamation of thousands of professional intelligence officers to shield a wholly incompetent Bush administration from its manifold failures is little more than a cheap shot."

Think Again: The Nth Time is Farce: Neocons Attack the NIE, Yet Again

"Bush’s neoconservative allies in the media have proven far more aggressive than the president. Their criticisms of the NIE took two basic approaches: one set of critics have attacked U.S. intelligence agencies for “politicizing” the report, which is code for reaching conclusions that are inconsistent with neoconservative ambitions; the second set of commentators has ascribed all kinds of Bush-hating psychological motives to the career intelligence officers who created the report."

Israel accepts 90 - 95% of US's intelligence on Iran

"Israel, which was surprised by the National Intelligence Assessment on Iran released last week, initiated the meeting. Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the idea of a meeting, reportedly preferring lower-level talks that would avoid involving diplomatic positions or organizational responsibility for the meaning or interpretation of the data."

IRAN INVASION PUT ON HOLD

"Bush, like a gambler who refuses to believe that his pair of kings can not beat his opponent’s royal flush, is not backing down. Having pulled a skunk out of the magic hat rather than a rabbit, his response is in effect that “Although Iran halted her program in 2003, that doesn’t mean she couldn’t start it back up again.”"

Bombed If You Do, Bombed If You Don't

"They want it both ways with Iran. On the one hand, they discredit the report entirely, despite it being one of the most comprehensive intelligence reports on the subject, with over 1,000 source notes in the document. On the other hand, when discrediting it fails, they claim that the timing of the abandonment of the weapons program, just as we were invading Iraq, means our pressure must have worked, so we must keep it up with a new round of even tougher sanctions."

Keith Olbermann: You sir, have no business being president

One of Keith's better "special comments." Keith is the best the MSM has to offer ~ the most disappointing is Hardball's Chris Matthews.

A smart side to US intelligence

Anatomy of a Turnabout

"The Bush administration decided to release new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) extracts reporting that Iran terminated its nuclear weapons program in 2003 at least in part because some officials feared leaks and accusations of a cover-up if the material were kept secret, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials."

Helen Thomas: No nukes in Iran, just as in Iraq

"Israel is believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East but has never permitted the U.N. to inspect its weapons program and has never signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Nor has any U.S. president publicly pressured it to do so."

Iran: Why Won't We Take Yes For An Answer?

"The Lobby is frantically calling in all its chips in a desperate effort to repair the damage and get their war-wagon rolling again. Congress recently passed a "package" of sanctions on Iran proffered by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Tel Aviv), who phrases his advocacy of isolating us from the Iranian people in terms of "talking" to Tehran in the language of "carrots and sticks." Which means: first the stick, and then – maybe – a skinny shriveled up little carrot."

Debunking Iran's Nuclear Program: Another 'Intelligence Failure' -- On the Part of the Press?

"Press reports so far have suggested that the belated release of the National Intelligence Estimate yesterday throwing cold water on oft-repeated claims of a rampant Iranian nuclear weapons program has deeply embarrassed, or at least chastened, public officials and policymakers who have promoted this line for years. Gaining little attention so far: Many in the media have made these same claims, often extravagantly, which promoted (deliberately or not) the tubthumping for striking Iran."

It Turns Out Ahmadinejad Was the Truthful One

President Bush meets with reporters at Tuesday’s White House press briefing. - AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

"Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took office as Iran’s president in August of 2005, two years after Iran’s nuclear weapons program ended, has now been vindicated in his claims that Iran has abandoned the weaponization program. Not so Bush, who has summarily dismissed the intelligence community’s findings and, using his favorite tactic in dealing with debacles, is sticking to his original story."

Iran : Armageddon is postponed

"Bombing Iran, it seems, is now off the table. There's no other reasonable take on the latest National Intelligence Estimate that concludes Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003."

Bolton Calls For Congressional Witch-Hunt Into Anti-Bush ‘People In The Intelligence Community’

"Yesterday’s National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concluded that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, pouring cold water on neoconservative calls for bombing Iran. Like his ideological kin Norman Podhoretz, former U.N. ambassador and Iran war hawk John Bolton has been attempting to slander the U.S. intelligence community’s collective judgments."

Biden: Bush compulsive liar

"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 US government said they had abandoned their effort for a nuclear weapon in '03?" the Delaware senator said. "You cannot trust this president. He is not trustworthy," he added.

Hersh: Bush Told Olmert Of NIE Two Days Before President Was Allegedly First Briefed On It

"...Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker’s Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist, revealed that Bush actually knew about the NIE at least two days earlier and had a “private discussion” about it with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before the Middle East peace summit in Annapolis, MD, last week."

Transcript:

BLITZER: But you were suggesting that there was a real run-up to war developing within the administration, even as there were some in the administration — the intelligence community — suggesting, Hey, hold off. Maybe they did suspend or freeze their nuclear weapons program.

HERSH: Well, of course. I think it’s still not over.

BLITZER: Because I want to press you on this. Does that mean, now that this new NIE has been released publicly, it is over, the run-up to a potential military confrontation with Iran?

HERSH: Well, there’s always Israel.

BLITZER: What’s that mean?

HERSH: Well, it means that Israel can always decide to take military action, or with us covertly. Israel objects to this report. I’m told that Olmert had a private discussion with Bush about it during Annapolis — before Annapolis. Bush briefed him about it. The Israelis were very upset about the report. They think we’re naive, they don’t think we get it right. And so they have a different point of view.