Spooks refuse to toe Cheney's line on Iran

[G_j]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IK10Ak01.html

Spooks refuse to toe Cheney's line on Iran
By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON - The US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear program. The aim is to make the document more supportive of Vice President Dick Cheney's militarily aggressive policy toward Iran, according to accounts provided by participants in the NIE process to two former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers.

But this pressure on intelligence analysts, obviously instigated by Cheney himself, has not produced a draft estimate without those dissenting views, these sources say. The White House has now apparently decided to release the "unsatisfactory" draft NIE, but without making its key findings public.

A NIE coordinates the judgments of the US's 16 intelligence agencies on a specific country or issue.

A former CIA intelligence officer who has asked not to be identified told Inter Press Service (IPS) that an official involved in the NIE process says the Iran estimate was ready to be published a year ago but has been delayed because the director of national intelligence wanted a draft reflecting a consensus on key conclusions - particularly on Iran's nuclear program.

There is a split in the intelligence community on how much of a threat the Iranian nuclear program poses, according to the intelligence official's account. Some analysts who are less independent are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the alarmist view coming from Cheney's office, but others have rejected that view.



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[Stephanie]

1. So the military, the diplomats and the spooks are all in rebellion...

WHERE is the CONGRESS?

[Vincardog]

2. Only a liberal traitor would deny the the possibility of maybe being able to possible produce a Nuke

in 10 to 15 years, then having to build a big sling shot to deliver it. That scenario is what makes Darth piss in his pants. It also makes the chimp want to nuke them now and make sure the USA is reviled forever.

[lvx35]

3. Intelligence rebelling against non-intelligence.

Its a good thing. A reality-based intelligence community is the last thing Cheney wants.

[sasquatch]

4. Good for them

:shrug: