My take on the NIE, Iran, Bush thing.....

I am sure that many of you have most likely wondered about what my take is on this. (The whole story)

I have been basically, since this broke this morning, Sitting and watching the MSM’s coverage of it. I’ve listened to the Conservatives, I’ve listened to the Middle of the Road folks, and I’ve listened to the Liberals take on the story. I really have a feeling the much of this story has been heavily skewed by politics. Having said this, I believe that unless one reads the report for yourself. It will be impossible to ascertain the truth.

This is the problem with the main stream media. There is just too much bias in the presentation of the facts.

Therefore, I am going to present the unbiased highlight from this report here.

The first thing to note when reading this report is this:

We use phrases such as we judge, we assess, and we estimate-and probabilistic terms such as probably and likely-to convey analytical assessments and judgments. Such statements are not facts, proof, or knowledge. These assessments and judgments generally are based on collected information, which often is incomplete or fragmentary. Some assessments are built on previous judgments. In all cases, assessments and judgments are not intended to imply that we have “proof” that shows something to be a fact or that definitively links two items or issues.

So, this whole idea that this report is 100% bullet proof, is 100% Bullcrap Which is about what I expect from the United States Government.

This is pretty much what the Government thinks it knows:

A. We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program we also assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons. We judge with high confidence that the halt, and Tehran’s announcement of its decision to suspend its declared uranium enrichment program and sign an Additional Protocol to its Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Safeguards Agreement, was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure resulting from exposure of Iran’s previously undeclared nuclear work.

• We assess with high confidence that until fall 2003, Iranian military entities were
working under government direction to develop nuclear weapons.

• We judge with high confidence that the halt lasted at least several years. (Because of intelligence gaps discussed elsewhere in this Estimate, however, DOE and the NIC assess with only moderate confidence that the halt to those activities represents a halt to Iran’s entire nuclear weapons program.)

• We assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007, but we do not know whether it currently intends to develop Nuclear weapons.

• We continue to assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Iran does not currently have a nuclear weapon.

• Tehran’s decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005. Our assessment hat the program probably was halted primarily in response to international pressure suggests Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged previously.

Basically, This whole thing above knocks the wind out the sails for Bush and Cheney to launch a strike against Iran. Because if they were to do this, they would look like total buffoons for doing so. Sort of like what happened with Iraq. Now before anyone accuses me of bias, even the most hardened Conservative will tell you that going into Iraq, was a outright mistake by the Administration.

 1  |  2  |  3