NIE Made Public In Spite Of Cheney’s Efforts
WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (IPS) - A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear programme, and thus make the document more supportive of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s militarily aggressive policy toward Iran, according to accounts of the process provided by participants to two former Central Intelligence Agency officers.
Cheney’s grip on the empire is weakening.
But this pressure on intelligence analysts, obviously instigated by Cheney himself, has not produced a draft estimate without those dissenting views, these sources say. The White House has now apparently decided to release the unsatisfactory draft NIE, but without making its key findings public.
In October 2006, former CIA officer Philip Giraldi wrote in The American Conservative that the NIE on Iran had already been completed, but that Cheney’s office had objected to its findings on both the Iranian nuclear programme and Iran’s role in Iraq. The draft NIE did not conclude that there was confirming evidence that Iran was arming the Shiite insurgents in Iraq, according to Giraldi.
Giraldi said the White House had decided to postpone any decision on the internal release of the NIE until after the November 2006 elections.
Cheney’s desire for a “clean” NIE that could be used to support his aggressive policy toward Iran was apparently a major factor in the replacement of John Negroponte as director of national intelligence in early 2007.
That extraordinary revelation about the NIE process, which was obviously ordered by McConnell, was an unsubtle signal to the intelligence community that the White House was determined to obtain a more alarmist conclusion on the Iranian nuclear programme.
Does this mean the disinformation that plagues the US media may have stronger opponents, now? Is there enough honor in the intelligence community to trump Cheney’s efforts to twist the truth to his needs? AM_RICA lost it’s E (ethics) and veracity at the beginning of this Bush A-Bomb-A-Nation. As the Bush war on America’s Constitution approaches it’s expiration date, could ETHICS return to the US resume?
I be skeptical … but, I be hopeful.
No Longer acceptable!
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December 5th, 2007 at 11:41 am
So, Washington DC lawmakers knew the NIE report said Iran had jettisoned its “nu-qu-lawr” (Bush speak) program way back in 2003.
The question for me then is, why did AIPAC’s queen, Hillary Clinton, voted “FOR” the Kyle/Lieberman bill that decared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a “terrorist organization?”
Is Le Hill jones-in for war with Iran as much as Dick “Fatty” Cheney? I’ve always said if this she-devil is elected president, she will be riding atop the first American tank that rolls into Tehran.
Hillary Clinton and Jane Harmon are jacked up on testoserone and don’t want peace and co-existence with the rest of the world.
December 5th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Great graphics !!!. and boy oh boy, the one economy at a time sure as hell rings true. And today another shitty deal - the Peruvian “free trade” deal. Rest assured this will not help the people of Peru only their elite mega rich. This is the long track record of free trade and the invasion of Transnational Corporations into developing nations…many of whom were well on their way to prosparity before the Friedmanites invaded.
you gotta laugh or cry - that captain bunny pants still insists there is danger danger danger…these people mainline this crap to the public and personally i am sick and tired of it. Lets get some intellects with hearts back in the WH and congress. Enough already of this dispicable lying exploitive crap to push - an economic agenda really. The Radical free Marketeers - are the enemy of truth and humanity. Knowing the true enemy is very important. 911 was blow back for yrs of usa treachery in other countries - the people need to understand this.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Christopher:
I find it very difficult to believe that Clinton didn’t have knowledge of this before she voted. Clinton is a hawk and this blew up on her.
December 5th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Now Cheney should really be impeached.