The National Security Advisor; The Secretaries of State, Defense & Homeland Security; and Directors of All Intelligence Agencies: (1) Who, in your respective organizations, were the authors of the recent NIE; (2) What specifically, in unclassified terms, was this estimate based upon - that is what intelligence did they have to base it upon; (3) Did all of you read said NIE prior to it being given to the President; and (4) Do you agree with it's content?  Last, and indeed not the least, what were the rolls of those three ex-State Department official in preparing this report and why them? It's tiring seeing stuff like this come out, clearly upending administration thinking on critical security issues, and no oneaccepting ownership other than it's the collective opinion of sixteen intelligence agencies in our government. And now we're stuck with the MSM pretending this proves the President was totally off base on Iran. What a crock of crap!

It required the willing suspension of disbelief. 

  Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.

If Iran isn't a threat, why are they still enriching uranium they don't need, and why don't they allow inspections? 

In hardened, underground bunkers. Yup, peaceful purposes, like the religion of peace. 

  Ignorance is bliss. It's easier to repeat a mindless slogan than to do some actual research.

Pathetic that you are here pt at five a.m. for me...

Wait a minute..it's just pathetic that you are still here.

....From My Cold Dead Hand!

take much time to look at below the surface items, do you chuckles. Let's see....

HT ACE

July 11, 2007: Thomas Fingar, one of the main authors of the NIE, delivers this testimony to Congress:

“Iran and North Korea are the states of most concern to us. The United States’ concerns about Iran are shared by many nations, including many of Iran’s neighbors. Iran is continuing to pursue uranium enrichment and has shown more interest in protracting negotiations and working to delay and diminish the impact of UNSC sanctions than in reaching an acceptable diplomatic solution. We assess that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons--despite its international obligations and international pressure. This is a grave concern to the other countries in the region whose security would be threatened should Iran acquire nuclear weapons.”

This reversal by the "intelligence" community was quite recent and Bush cannot be charged with "lying" for not precognitively glimpsing the future of their sudden changes in heart.

More importantly: This means the entire NIE is based on quite recent "intelligence" which I have to doubt has been vetted all that well.

Sketchy evidence. Recently obtained. Quickly vetted. And that leads to this overstated nonsense of "high confidence" of an Iranian nuclear freeze.

Who's the task manager for the NIE -- Franklin Foer....

Check out Hot Air for video of John Bolton ripping this guy to shreds.
http://hotair.com/ar...

Curveball?

Think on it chuckles...

"You're either part of the solution or part of the problem"

Hey professor, this is the same intelligence community that asserted that Saddam had WMD. Are you arguing that they were incompetent then but they've nailed it this time?  

How do you square these key judgements with the testimony given by Fingar to the House Armed Services Committee? Was he wrong then, or is he wrong now? And how do you explain the discrepancy between this and the 2005 NIE?

Talk about accepting intelligence based on whether it coincides with your personal prejudices. Hypocrisy, thy name is ProfessorTruth.

The irony is that, if a Dem wins the whitehouse in '08, they will have no way to blame GWB for Iran's nuke arsenal. The partisans in the intelligence community have just screwed the next administration for the sake of embarrassing a POTUS with a year left in his second term.   

the Quote you gave isn't relevant to NIE, the Quote NB gave is from the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD.

As usual, PT isn't making much sense. 

But...BUT...he is quoting John Kennedy who relied on "Intelligence" enough to think the Soviet Union was putting Nukes in Cuba...and Kennedy sent out SHIPS to STOP the Russian shipments and (BUSH LIKE) almost started a WAR !! 

Thanks for the reminder PT, of a Great President almost sending us to War by using MILITARY STRENGTH and not Diplomacy. 

What good is a Free Press, if it is a False Press ?   David Foote  GoE

You mean like calling a chemical warfare manufacturing plant a "fertilizer factory"?  I suppose all those Kurds who died under Saddam's regime, just died of air pollution, they weren't gassed. 

If these people can spin that kind of information in the face of the obvious, then they also would believe the Iranians using children to clear minefields are martyrs. http://www.trans-int.com/news/archives/114-Are-500,000-Keys-to-Paradise-Enough-Germany-Confronts-Ahmadinejad.html  In the presence of such blatant evil only a fool or a coward would pretend Iran is nation of peace with no malevolent purposes.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. dscott's corollary: The line between malice and stupidity is called depraved indifference.

When one of these damn things come out, you have to wonder whether we're better off not hearing abou it.  It seems to me, all they ever do is demonstrate how incredibly stupid we are as a country.  We employ way too many, self-centered morons in government, who spend countless hours talking to themselves about a myriad of vague theories absent of hard core facts, usually based on some far fetched notion that they have that they are truly adding valuable insight, all of whom have never been accountable for a single thing. This crap is worthless; will be forgotten in less than a few weeks; yet, will instigate countless columns pro and con, none of which will change a thing. Here's some facts: Iran is dangerous; they talk dangerous, they act dangerous, and they have difficulty with the truth. Sound familiar?  Think Iraq - same MO, same stupidity, same reckless rhetoric trying to create a sense of superiority where none may exist. If you're the President, what do you do? Very simple - don't trust them as far as you can throw them.  Don't fall into the MSM trap of searching for diplomatic answers. Keep the heat on the morons, every minute of evey day. So much for the NIE.