For those who have doubts about miracles, a double one occurred today

[Postman]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/03/5590/

An honest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear program has been issued and its Key Judgments were made public.

The main points of the NIE:

“We judge that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program…”

“We assess with moderate confidence Tehran has not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007.”

“We do not have sufficient intelligence to judge confidently whether Tehran is willing to maintain the halt of its nuclear weapons program indefinitely…”

“We judge with moderate confidence Iran probably would be technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium sometime during the 2010-2015 time frame.”

“We judge with high confidence that Iran will not be technically capable of producing and reprocessing enough plutonium for a weapon before about 2015.”


on edit: "Countdown" covers the spin..
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/12/03/countdown-bushs-nukyular-credibility-meltdown/

Maybe sanity has returned to the intelligence community along with a liberal dose of reality after seeing what their total capitulation on Iraq has wrought.

[Postman]

1. Democrats respond to Bush Admin. bullshit story about Iranian nuke threat

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/03/democrats-respond-to-new-_n_75186.html

[Djinn]

2. the miracle will be

if Iran can continue to pursue this program in peace the way Pakistan and India have been able to

[tuvor]

3. The intel community did not totally capitulate on Iraq.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=181739

[Postman]

10. I stand corrected.

The neo-cons cherry-picked intel they liked, discarded the caveats...

but no one from the intelligence community stepped forward to dispute the lies,except........

Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame...and we all know what kind of message was sent to anyone else who dared to speak the truth......very Mafia like tactics, don't you think?

[Up2Late]

4. The WH respoce today, "Well...maybe they started the program after the middle of the year..."

...so they're still a threat.

Seriously, I'm not kidding.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16846056>
...In a special White House briefing on the report, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley called it "a complicated estimate."

Hadley said it was "good news" that a dispute over Iran's nuclear program might be resolved without the use of force, but that "the risk of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon remains a very serious problem."

Hadley also said that the Bush administration had not sought to manipulate the information to help shape U.S. policy on Iran.

Citing a May 2005 report, Hadley said that the intelligence community "assessed with high confidence that Iran currently was determined to develop nuclear weapons."

<http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/03/iran.report/>

...Amid questions about why the administration got it so wrong, National Security adviser Stephen Hadley responded, saying, "I don't think we were wrong about what it's doing or what its intentions were. Our concern was that they were pursuing a nuclear weapon. We saw the enrichment, which we couldn't really explain. We saw the ballistic missiles. And it led people to conclude we are concerned that they were pursuing a nuclear weapons program...."

(edit)

...Hadley said the administration is already on the right track, saying "the estimate offers grounds for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically without the use of force, as the administration has been trying to do, and it suggests we have the right strategy -- intensified international pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves Iranian interests while ensuring the world that it will never have to face a nuclear armed Iran...."

...The unexpected finding will likely to lead to calls for the Bush administration to slow its push for strengthened sanctions against the Islamic republic.

<http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=b12ce33b-ec44-469b-8d83-5b589900c854>

...But senior administration officials said it shows measures taken so far have been successful in curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

"The estimate offers grounds for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically, without the use of force, as the administration has been trying to do," said Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser.

The report itself says "the program was probably halted primarily in response to international pressure...."

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2221486,00.html>

...The White House national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, at a press conference yesterday, denied there were echoes of the intelligence failure over Iraq's phantom weapons of mass destruction. He said that Iran was "one of a handful of the hardest intelligence targets going" and the new intelligence had only arrived in the past few months. As soon as it did, both the president and Congress had been briefed. He warned that there would be a tendency now to think "the problem is less bad than we thought, let's relax. Our view is that would be a mistake...."

[pansypoo53219]

5. BUT BUT BUT

does iWan have any CAPABILITY?!?

cause that's all they need to start a war.

[truedelphi]

6. And Gweat Leader Gorge W said that even if

A nation "is thinking" of having a nukes program - they should be considered armed and dangerous.

[dweller]

7. for we would not want to see it come in the form

of mushroom soup ... uh, wait... (shuffle shuffle) ...

it's here somewhere ...



dp

[truedelphi]

13. But in mushroom souping Iran wouldn't we be providing that nation

With all important B vitamins??

[Peace Patriot]

8. I agree, it seems like a miracle. But I think there are international forces behind

stopping a Bush Junta attack on Iran, that have emboldened our intelligence professionals to buck Cheney and the NeoCons and tell the truth.

If you want to read my analysis of this (Comment #3):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2399548

It appears that Bush/Cheney have been checkmated.

[mtnester]

9. Dear Peace...I am not sure if checkmate is in these buffoon's vocabulary

I will be curious to see how the pResident spins this in his press conference today. Maybe he says that outside forces are acting to keep the true nature of Iran's nuclear threat hidden (those international forces...no reason not to think he not insult them as even Poland had left the building)

It is kind of like watching a mad dog being backed up in the corner...you have no idea when he will come out snapping, biting and spraying foam, but you KNOW that is its only choice.

Frankly, it scares me....as it should

[Vinca]

11. I think it was Rachel Madow on Olbermann who said it's good news unless

it's information released for the purpose of making Iran think Shrub is stepping back from his threats so when the bombs drop it will be a surprise.

[truedelphi]

12. Ow. ANd that scenario is just too plausible. n/t