Gary Hart: The NIE Iran Report and Alan Dershowitz

[marmar]

from HuffPost:




Gary Hart
The NIE Iran Report and Alan Dershowitz
Posted December 7, 2007 | 06:50 PM (EST)


Throughout most of the Cold War any challenge to the proposition that "the Russians are coming and they're 30 feet tall" was met with derision and outrage by the Right. As a veteran of both the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, I saw repeated rejection of any intelligence estimate that questioned that mantra or placed Soviet military capabilities or intent to use them in any realistic light. The most notorious, but not the only, instance was the appointment of a "Team B" to challenge the view of intelligence experts that the Soviet economy was a mess and its military not much better.

Of course, as we now know, the intelligence community, especially the CIA, was right and the Right was wrong.

Now comes Professor Dershowitz, in a rant that is not only hysterical but almost catatonic, presuming to know more about what is, or is not, going on in Iran than the sum total of sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies combining hundreds of thousands of the nation's most expert intelligence collectors and analysts who annually consume forty or fifty billion American tax dollars.

One did not hear much from Professor Dershowitz when those same intelligence agencies held to the position that Iran was on track to develop nuclear weapons, or at least when President Bush made that claim while suppressing any questions to the contrary. So, by collecting new intelligence and placing it under more intense scrutiny, and, one hears, by threatening to release this report if the White House continued to suppress it, these same intelligence experts suddenly become incompetents and "nincompoops" pursuing, according to Professor Dershowitz, some nefarious agenda of their own. It is never clear what that agenda is supposed to be.

Sounds like the Cold War all over again. Intelligence is good when it tells you what you want to hear. Otherwise, it is dangerously flawed if not sinister. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/the-nie-iran-report-and-a_b_75894.html

[H2O Man]

1. Good article.

Thank you for posting this. I've always like Gary Hart, and think he is one of the best spokespersons for traditional democratic values.

I like many things about Professor Dershowitz, but there are a couple topics that he does not seem to be objective about.

[Truth2Tell]

5. "a couple topics that he does not seem to be objective about"

Congratulations - You get the Understatement of the Year Award.

:P

[autorank]

2. Dershowitz is a becoming a caricature. He reduced himself in the OJ appeal

and is fair game. What a stupid move that was, particularly since OJ was convicted in civil court, practically confessed with his book, and was guilty as Hell. There is not a single thing wrong with defense work, it's essential, but for a moralist like the professor, that choice tarnishes his self appointed glow of perfection.

Great article - K*R

[bleever]

3. Senator Hart concludes:

What has undermined public support for the war in Iraq is the suspicion that other agendas, not least oil among them, were at work but not being disclosed by our leaders. It is a sure guarantee that the American people will turn against any foreign enterprise when they come to suspect that they are not being told the truth.

Perhaps now is the time for everyone to put their cards on the table.

And perhaps ongoing criminal investigations are weighing heavily on certain people and certain agendas.

[Gregorian]

4. Be sure to read the comments on that link.

Just reading a few, it's quality thinking.


There's so much to know regarding politics and foreign affairs. It's hard to keep up. And it's no wonder they can get away with so much. Thank goodness for the forums. We combine our forces, and everyone benefits.

Gary Hart. I just get nostalgic thinking back to those days. And to think he's still here with us working away. Let's stay informed. They aren't going to get far, if we do.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

7. Agreed -- through page 1 of comments so far...

Tis good to hear from other critical thinkers outside of this forum.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. K & R