WSJ: Cheney's office saw latest Iran NIE as a death blow to their Iran policy

[sabra]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120027737099687613.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

<snip>

The authors of the Iran report -- career officials in the intelligence and diplomatic corps -- are among the same people who were on the losing side of the Iraq and Iran debates during the first Bush term. In 2002, some argued that Iraq didn't have an active nuclear-weapons program. They were sidelined by the more-hawkish foreign-policy strategists on the Bush team.

...

Hundreds of officials were involved and thousands of documents were drawn upon in this report, according to the DNI, making it impossible for any official to overly sway it. Intelligence sources were vetted and questioned in ways they weren't ahead of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Thomas Fingar, 62 years old, is one of the lead architects of the Iran report. A veteran State Department official, Mr. Fingar helped lead the office that argued in 2002 that evidence of Iraq's nuclear program was faulty. He is now a senior official at the DNI.

Of the backlash against the report, Mr. Fingar says, "A lot of it is just nonsense. The idea that this thing was written by a bunch of nonprofessional renegades or refugees is just silly."

...

In 2002, Mr. Fingar vigorously quizzed his analysts' assumptions on Iraq, according to people who took part in the process. He particularly liked running "red teaming" exercises where competing groups sought to expose flaws in the bureau's judgments. Mr. Fingar told top State Department officials, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, what his analysts had concluded: Saddam Hussein didn't have an active nuclear-weapons program. In particular, they disputed evidence cited by the White House relating to Iraq's purchase of aluminum tubes, purportedly for use in making weapons-grade nuclear fuel.

...

The result was that the White House was essentially locked out of the process. This marked a big change from the years leading up to the Iraq war, when Mr. Cheney and his top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, made repeated visits to Langley to query analysts about their findings on Iraq's weapons capabilities.

...

People in Vice President Cheney's office saw the Dec. 3 announcement as a death blow to their Iran policy. The report's authors "knew how to pull the rug out from under us," says a long-time aide to the vice president, referring to the way the key judgments were presented.

[yourout]

1. and all I have to say it...........thank god.

[babylonsister]

2. Rec'd. And that's undoubtedly why they didn't want the NIE released.

:nopity:

[sabra]

3. also they only released some key findings (2 pages) of the report

The report is over 140 pages... I bet you there's much more in there that Cheney doesn't want us to see.

[babylonsister]

7. I can't even imagine what else they're hiding. Fits their pattern, doesn't it. nt

[RuleOfNah]

14. "much more in there that Cheney doesn't want us to see"

:popcorn:

[rodeodance]

4. What a wonderful day--to see this.

[NewJeffCT]

5. So, Fingar gives Cheney the finger?

or so it seems.

good for him.

[sabra]

6. also appears Fingar told Powell the truth - and Powell went with Cheney's version

[spin]

8. Bush will do his best

to find an excuse to bomb Iran. Perhaps he'll manufacture one.

I feel religion is the cause of the problem we have with Iran...on both sides. Both the Christian and the Muslim faiths believe in a coming apocalypse.

This could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[paparush]

13. Here Here! The monotheistic battle of MY god is better than YOUR god

keeps getting lots and lots of people killed (as it has throughout history).

People - WE created god! Not the other way around.

Its time to move on, and let Religion die the death it deserves.

[Winterblues]

9. Weren't the Republicans in Congress going to investigate this?

I seem to recall a big harumph from the GOP and how the NIA was all political and they were going to get to the bottom of it.. Have they initiated any sort of investigation?

[sabra]

10. WP: As Conservatives Reject New NIE, Republican Senators to Urge Congressional Panel

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/06/AR2007120602457.html

Review of Iran Intelligence to Be Sought
As Conservatives Reject New NIE, Republican Senators to Urge Congressional Panel


Senate Republicans are planning to call for a congressional commission to investigate the conclusions of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran as well as the specific intelligence that went into it, according to congressional sources.

The move is the first official challenge, but it comes amid growing backlash from conservatives and neoconservatives unhappy about the assessment that Iran halted a clandestine nuclear weapons program four years ago. It reflects how quickly the NIE has become politicized, with critics even going after the analysts who wrote it, and shows a split among Republicans.

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) said he plans to introduce legislation next week to establish a commission modeled on a congressionally mandated group that probed a disputed 1995 intelligence estimate on the emerging missile threat to the United States over the next 15 years.

"Iran is one of the greatest threats in the world today. Getting the intelligence right is absolutely critical, not only on Iran's capability but its intent. So now there is a huge question raised, and instead of politicizing that report, let's have a fresh set of eyes -- objective, yes -- look at it," he said in an interview.

[global1]

11. Yet We Have Little Iranian Speed Boats Taking On The U.S. Navy

and * is still rattling the sabre on Iran. I wouldn't be surprised if Cheney hired these guys in speed boats to create an incident.
We still have to live through 12 more months of this administration. I wouldn't put it past them to hit Iran yet.

[DCKit]

15. Didn't Condi say the Resident didn't have time to swat mosquitoes?

I guess it's all how you choose to spin the individual situations: In this case, one person's speedboat is this administration's intentional, international act of provocation. Booga, booga.

BTW, where's Osama? Safe at home in the family compound? Under the protection of the BFEE? Buried next to the cave he died in?

[diane in sf]

12. Every policy from Cheney and his office deserves death blows.

[Disturbed]

16. Cheney needs to be Impeached!

Will Congress do the right thing & start the Impeachment?