Joe Lieberman will be so depressed.
A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted
its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on hold,
contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working inexorably
toward building a bomb. … ..Instead, today’s report concludes it is more likely Iran could have
a bomb by the early part to the middle of the next decade. The report states
that the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research judges
Iran is unlikely to achieve this goal before 2013, “because of foreseeable
technical and programmatic problems.”The new assessment upends a judgment made about Iran’s nuclear capabilities
in 2005. At the time, intelligence agencies assessed with “high confidence”
that Iran is determined to have nuclear weapons and concluded that Iran had
a secret nuclear weapons program. … ..
The key findings
of the NIE are available (pdf), though the entire report will remain classified.
This is very embarrassing to the Bush administration. After holding out Ahmadinejad
as this mad nuclear menace we now find out that they’ve haven’t been interested
in the nuclear arms race since 2003. They will continue their peaceful pursuit
of nuclear power, which is something entirely manageable.
There is no reason whatsoever not to engage with Iran at this point. Can’t
wait to see Bush spin this one.
It’s also a message from the intelligence community. They’re not going to screw
up Iran like they did Iraq. Clear message is being sent. In the reality based
community it’s been received.
–End saber rattling.–
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