7/12/07

Special Groups weapons trainers in the crosshairs
Mugniyah has extensive links with the Iranian intelligence services, and has been directly linked to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and recently deceased al Qaeda in Iraq commander Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Mugniyah is on FBI’s list of 22 …
www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007
/12/special_groups_weapo.php

Iran intel turnabout hinged on military notes: report
Washington (AFP) Dec 6, 2007 – The stunning US turnabout on Iran’s nuclear weapons program hinged on notes obtained by US intelligence that detailed deliberations by Iranian military officials, The New York Times reported Thursday. Citing senior US intelligence and government officials, the Times said the notes included conversations by senior Iranian military officials complaining bitterly about a decision in late 2003
www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_intel_turnabout_
hinged_on_military_notes_report_999.html

Bush under fire over Iran claims
Washington (AFP) Dec 6, 2007 – The White House Thursday struggled to defend the dire warnings about Iran made by US President George W. Bush even after he had learned that Tehran had likely frozen its atomic weapons program in 2003. A new US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released on Monday formally endorsed that conclusion, which Bush had first heard about in August from US Director of National Intelligence Michael …
www.spacewar.com/reports/Bush_under
_fire_over_Iran_claims_999.html

US boxed in after Iran surprise: analysts
Washington (AFP) Dec 5, 2007 – The threat of war with Iran has ebbed and with new UN sanctions now an even harder sell, the United States has scant options even if it were to reverse course and engage Tehran, experts say. President George W. Bush insists that Iran remains a threat despite Monday’s appraisal by US intelligence that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, a change of heart that has sent shockwaves …
www.spacewar.com/reports/US_boxed_in_
after_Iran_surprise_analysts_999.html

6/12/07

Anatomy of a Turnabout
Why the Bush administration decided to make the new Iran nuclear intelligence public.
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
The document says that the United States assesses with only “moderate confidence” that as of a few months ago Tehran’s secret program had not been restarted, but also says that if Iran resumed its nuclear bomb program it would be unlikely to be able to actually produce a bomb until 2010 at the earliest, and more likely not for several years more. The document says U.S. intelligence believes with “moderate-to-high confidence” that Tehran is still “keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons.”
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18839.htm

Iran Intelligence Report:
More Psychological Warfare?
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
Under the current administration, it is increasingly difficult to know who the enemy is, but what is certain is that the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) is a brilliantly executed psychological warfare by way of misinformation. This dastardly plan is so devious that even the anti-war groups are jubilant at its release, and they are naively sharing its contents. Perhaps non are as enthusiastic about the report as the most powerful lobby group in America hostile to Iran.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18837.htm

Neocons Set Trap For Iran:
Bush says Iran must explain past nuclear work:
Ahmadinejad and other authorities here have ignored the part of the report saying that Iran pursued secret nuclear weapons activities until 2003, and they have addressed only the part that says Iran’s nuclear activities have been for peaceful purposes since then.
www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/06/africa/06iran.php
 
Rice Wins Support for Iran Sanctions:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won support on Iran Thursday from two key European allies, France and Germany, whose leaders urged continued pressure on Tehran because of its nuclear program, saying the country remains a danger.
ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVp6OcsznL
JpeFv8SenE_EhxIpmgD8TC4E5O0
 
U.S. and allies continue to push for sanctions against Iran :
The U.S. envoy to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad said on Tuesday, “Let me say what the NIE says and what it doesn’t say. The NIE says that there was a covert military dedicated nuclear weapons program. That in 2003 stopped because of international pressure… But, it does not say that Iran does not have the intention to develop a nuclear weapons capability, that it has abandoned the goal of acquiring a nuclear weapons capability permanently”
en.rian.ru/world/20071205/90954754.html
 
No proof Iran had nukes: Russia:
Russia’s Foreign Minister says the country has no proof that Iran has ever had a nuclear weapons programme
www.russiatoday.ru/news/news/18069
 
White House Reveals Bush Lied:
Was Told In August Iran’s Nuclear Program ‘May Be Suspended’
thinkprogress.org/2007/12/05/bush-nie-lied/
 
More proof Bush lied again:
Nuclear fallout / Who’s right here? :
Israel has known about the report for more than a month. The first information on it was passed on to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and to Shaul Mofaz, who is the minister responsible for the strategic dialog with the Americans. The issue was also discussed at the Annapolis summit by Barak and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and it seems also between Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/931216.html

US and Britain push for tighter sanctions on Iran 06 Dec 2007 The US and Britain are pushing ahead with plans to tighten international sanctions on Tehran, despite concerns about greater Russian and Chinese resistance after the latest US intelligence assessment concluded that Iran had halted a nuclear weapons programme four years ago under diplomatic pressure
news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3226419.ece

Rice wins support for Iran sanctions 06 Dec 2007 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won support Thursday on Iran from two key European allies, France and Germany, whose leaders urged continued pressure on Tehran because of its nuclear program, saying the country remains a danger. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged a two-pronged approach of pressure and negotiations with Iran.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071206/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iran_30

Bush told in August that Iran nuke program ‘may be suspended’ —Intelligence chief told pResident Iran might have stopped work on nuclear weapons 06 Dec 2007 President [sic] Bush was told in August that Iran’s nuclear weapons program “may be suspended,” the White House said Wednesday, which seemingly contradicts the account of the meeting given by Bush Tuesday.
www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/05/bush.iran/index.html

Two-thirds of Israelis oppose attack on Iran: poll 06 Dec 2007 Two-thirds of Israelis oppose their country launching on its own a military attack against nuclear installations in arch-foe Iran, said a poll published on Thursday. When asked “should Israel alone attack the Iranian nuclear installations,” 67.2 percent said no, while 20.9 percent said yes and 11.9 percent had no opinion, said the survey aired on public radio.
afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHSNqst2EKZ8lnhNnGYCHDEHNpwg

Dilip Hiro | The Zero-Sum Fiasco
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120607D.shtml
Dilip Hiro writes for TomDispatch on the humiliating zero-sum Iranian game Bush finds himself losing.

Commentary: Was Bush Behind the Iran Report?
Robert Baer, TimesOnline
Bombing Iran, it seems, is now off the table. There’s no other reasonable take on the latest National Intelligence Estimate that concludes Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. But there is also no doubt that the Bush White House was behind this NIE. While the 16 intelligence agencies that make up the “intelligence community” contribute to each National Intelligence Estimate, you can bet that an explosive, 180-degree turn on Iran like this one was greenlighted by the President. And explode is what the hawks in and outside the Administration are about to do…
www.uruknet.de/?p=38950

Fools Rush In: An Expert Dissection of the NIE Report
Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque
…Several of the reactions collected by Glenn Reynolds advance the notion that, assuming the NIE is accurate, this demonstrates that the invasion and occupation of Iraq did in fact lead to the elimination of a gravely serious threat, namely, the threat that an Iran with nuclear weapons would have represented. If the invasion and occupation of Iraq prevented such a development, that means the Iraq catastrophe was justified. It is difficult to imagine a more heinously bankrupt moral argument. Iraq itself was no threat to the United States, and it was known to be no threat. We have destroyed Iraq completely, unleashed a genocide that continues with every blood-drenched day that passes, created refugees in the several millions, and wreaked havoc and devastation in numerous other ways. Because Iraq was known to be no threat to the U.S., the U.S. did all this in a criminal war of aggression — precisely the kind of crime against peace for which we properly condemned the Nazi regime. Yet now it is suggested that all this was morally justified — because it may have prevented a threat from arising in another country….
www.uruknet.de/?p=38937

No Iranian bomb
Babak Yektafar on the NIE report that says no nuclear weapons in Iran view video
whatcounts.com/t?r=1664&c=884717&l=36235&ctl=162 4D
2E:5F2 03ADDA66F317E9EC772C0FD930A70EDC3615173C7E546&

Intel Report Sinks CNN Iran Special
By Brian Lowry, Variety
CNN has postponed speculative documentary “We Were Warned — Iran Goes Nuclear.”
www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/12/
06/intel-report-sinks-cnn-iran-special/

Details in Military Notes Led to Shift on Iran, US Says
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120607K.shtml
David E. Sanger and Steven Lee Myers report for The New York Times, “American intelligence agencies reversed their view about the status of Iran’s nuclear weapons program after they obtained notes last summer from the deliberations of Iranian military officials involved in the weapons development program, senior intelligence and government officials said on Wednesday.”

Matthew Rothschild | Bush May Still Bomb Iran, Despite NIE
www.truthout.org/docs_2006/120607N.shtml
Matthew Rothschild writes for The Progressive, “When the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran came out earlier this week, a lot of people jumped to the conclusion that Cheney and the hardliners have lost, and so we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Well, I’m not exhaling at the moment.”

Clandestine Aims Of NIE Report
By Parviz Esmaeili
www.countercurrents.org/parviz061207.htm
Instead of pointing the finger at the neoconservative system of the United States, the report attempts to give the impression that the Islamic Republic of Iran is belligerent by nature and to justify Bush’s statements last month, when, probably in line with this report, he said, “If you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.” In fact, the report was released to influence world public opinion and convince people that if there is going to be a third world war, Iran will be the instigator, not the U.S.!

IRAN: Charges Against ‘Nuclear Spy’ Deepen Political Split
Kimia Sanati
TEHRAN – Charges of spying for Britain persisting against former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian appear to have intensified rifts within the alliance of conservatives and hardliners that made Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran?s President more than two years ago.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40347

Iran NIE Validates 2003 European Diplomacy
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON – Despite the White House spin that the new National Intelligence Estimate supports its policy of increasing pressure on Iran, the estimate not only directly contradicts the Bush administration’s line on Iranian intentions regarding nuclear weapons, but points to a link between Tehran’s 2003 decision to halt research on weaponisation and its decision to negotiate with European foreign ministers on both nuclear and Iranian security concerns.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40338