Bolton says U.S. intel report on Iran was political

[Scurrilous]

Source: Reuters

<snip>

"U.S. intelligence services were seeking to influence political policy-making with their assessment Iran had halted its nuclear arms programme in 2003, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said.

Der Spiegel magazine quoted Bolton on Saturday as saying the aim of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), contradicting his and President George W. Bush's own oft-stated position, was not to provide the latest intelligence on Iran.

"This is politics disguised as intelligence," Bolton was quoted as saying in an article appearing in next week's edition.

Bolton described the NIE, released on Monday, as a "quasi-putsch" by the agencies, Der Spiegel said."

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL081165120071208

[acmavm]

1. John Bolton. 'Nuff said.

[KeepItReal]

2. "politics disguised as intelligence"? That's Bolton and the Neocons's specialty.

More projection....

[maddezmom]

3. Former Cheney Aide’s Efforts To Discredit Iran NIE Are Contradicted By Cheney Himself

Former Cheney Aide’s Efforts To Discredit Iran NIE Are Contradicted By Cheney Himself
In an article this morning titled “NIE authors accused of partisan politics,” the Washington Times’ Jon Ward attempts to undermine the credibility of the intelligence community’s recent assessment that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Ward’s article consists of ad hominen attacks from unnamed “officials” who claim the new NIE is just “a politically motivated document written by anti-Bush former State Department officials.”

David Wurmser, who until recently was Vice President Cheney’s Middle East adviser, is the only critic of the NIE that Ward quotes on the record:

“One has to look at the agendas of the primary movers of this report, to judge how much it can really be banked on,” said David Wurmser, a former Middle East adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, who has worked with the report authors.

Ward’s article is disingenuous in many respects. Ward asserts that there were “three former State officials primarily responsible” for the report. But, as Slate’s Fred Kaplan pointed out yesterday when asked about this canard, “the NIE is not ‘a team of three in the State Department.’ It’s the product of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.”

Additionally, Wurmser and his fellow anonymous critics are contradicted by an ideological fellow traveler in the administration who, unlike them, has actually seen the full report: Vice President Dick Cheney. Cheney told the Politico that he doesn’t “have any reason to question” the report:

more:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/07/wurmser-versus-cheney/

[Lasher]

4. Could it possibly be more obvious that the neocons are trying to lie us into another war?

Bolton is so lame.

[Up2Late]

25. Exactly, John Bolton is Cartoonish at best...

And if anyone would know about politicizing a Intelligence report, it would be him.

[ixion]

5. and they quote this idiot because?

:shrug:

I mean, he failed miserably at the UN, as is the neocon way, so why is anything he would say news?

Oh, yeah, it's not. It's propaganda.

[stillcool]

6. "The sixteen words" come to mind.. n/t

[Aviation Pro]

7. Goo-goo-gajoob....

...you fucking fat walrus.

[whistle]

8. Isn't John Bolton supposed to be in jail?

[struggle4progress]

34. No, he's supposed to be hanging from his heels with his head in a bucket until

he confesses

[Algorem]

9. No Iran Attack? Don't be so sure...

No Iran Attack? Don't be so sure...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7567

by Justin Raimondo

Global Research, December 8, 2007
Antiwar.com - 2007-12-05

Email this article to a friend
Print this article

The release of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program has everyone breathing a sigh of relief. According to our best intelligence, the Iranians stopped their weapons program in 2003. The liberal pundits and the more reasonable Sullivanesque conservatives are shouting "Hallelujah!" War has been averted! My response: not so fast.

Before we segue into all the reasons why we shouldn't be letting our guard down, however, let's take a moment or three to savor the War Party's distress. This morning's edition of National Review Online is a veritable cornucopia of spittle-on-the-screen invective. There's a whole section devoted to debunking the debunkers, and each and every article is a study in sophistry elevated almost to an art form...

I suggest Rubin, Podhoretz, et al., take a good, long look in the mirror. Unlike Iran's hardliners, ours are openly calling for war. As crazy as Ahmadinejad and his pals may be, Podhoretz and his pals are even wackier.

I'd sure like to believe that the relatively rational sectors of our government – the professional intelligence analysts, career diplomats, and assorted "realists" in the national security bureaucracy – have succeeded in putting a stake through the heart of the neocons and spiking the much-rumored war plans of this administration. Unfortunately, I owe it to my readers to tell it like it is: don't break out the champagne just yet. Oh, and keep your eye on the Iran-Iraq border, including the somewhat blurry line of demarcation in the Gulf. We aren't in the clear yet, not by a long shot, and we won't be until all U.S. troops are out of Iraq.

Justin Raimondo is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Justin Raimondo

[OHdem10]

10. There appears to be concerted effort to discredit NIE Report.by

GOP. Some on the Hill are wanting hearings.

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Why can't we send Bolton somewhere that wants him?

He must be wanted somewhere on criminal charges.

[PassingFair]

17. Hell? n/t

[Barrett808]

12. He whined to Jon Stewart about pushback from the bureaucracies

Called it "anti-Democratic," iirc.

[ladjf]

13. Bolton has zero credibility. (nt)

[miles 2 go]

14. Well, if John Bolton said it, I believe it!

Now where the hell is that sarcasm icon? Oh< I found it. :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

[NRaleighLiberal]

15. Bolton is ignorance and stupidity disguised as intelligence

Well, to some, anyway. To me, he is just ignorance disguised as ignorance!

[peacetalksforall]

29. He's about passion - to do good work for Israel - with his friends and co-workers who work

hard for war keeping it fresh and moving forward.

[Hulk]

16. When I think of "pure American trash", this guy comes to mind right away.

I think it's high time we quit giving these jack offs air time. Who gives a rat's ass what this loser, liar, neocon fascist swine has to say???? There is NO credibility there at all, and nothing more than administration propaganda so transparent and ugly, you'd have to be a dumb ass baboon to not see it.

[Wizard777]

18. Well DUH! The NIE is supposed to influence political policy.

If the NIE said that Iran was prepairing in to launch a nuclear missle at the USA. Don't you think that would influence political policy on a premptive strike? Bolton is just stating the NIE's purpose in ominous overtones. If Bolton is just now discovering that the NIE influences political policy. He needs to be fired yesterday.

[applegrove]

19. So if they hear news they don't like...it is political. If they like the news it is reality.

When will they ever learn.

[downindixie]

20. Quite a change from the neocons

politically influencing the NIE.Refreshing! Bolton needs to be tarred and feathered,then frog marched to the gallows.

[pinto]

21. The inner bureaucratic civil war of the Bush Administration, played out in the press.

Seems the intelligence agencies, tired of the politicization of their work - if that's the accurate frame - have thrown down the gauntlet...and the neocons, true to form, have answered. As noted, the destruction of the 2005 tapes - while an unsettling travesty in it's own right - the leak this same week serves to cast the CIA, a lead intelligence agency, as the villain, not the Administration officials in the West Wing who lied loudly and long about a imminent Iran nuke threat.

Oh for some semblance of public service professionalism in the White House again. It's been too long.

[niyad]

22. WHY is this yosemite sam clone being given ANY airtime?

[rockybelt]

28. THAT IS ONE HELL OF A GOOD QUESTION. NT

[peacetalksforall]

30. I was just thinking about that - it's like he's got a free ticket to any

corporate media outlet he needs - to promote the neo-con pnac baron Israel war group message.

-

[Gman]

23. The NIE really fucked up plans for the Iran invasion

judging by the reaction of the neocons. I don't see any way they can put it back together before Bush leaves office. So that leaves the Israel option as the last and only option. I would then expect Israel to bomb Iran and for us to be "drawn into" the war.

[fascisthunter]

24. And Yet Bolton's Words are the Real Political Spin

what a sick and dangerous maniac this man is. He should be locked up as a threat to the World.

[HuffleClaw]

26. as usual he gets it completely backward

it was the burying of the report that was 'political', it was the crying wolf on the part of assorted administration officials while they KNEW they were lying that was 'political'.

[nealmhughes]

27. In a sense, Bolton is correct: only the "party" of which he refers is the Constitution Restoration

Party, which transcends Democrats and Republicans.
However he is wrong in believing that intelligence release can't be for a greater purpose than mere information, or that the motive transcends the data per se. The data and analysis simply is. The use of it for the user to decide.
John Bolton has not an iota of credibility in anyone's eyes. He can go to Der Spiegel and spin however he wishes, it won't change anyone's opinion of him. And that opinion is decidedly low.

[pleah]

31. Who gives a shit what he says.

[MurrayDelph]

32. In the words of Dr. Stephen T. Cobert, DFA:

“Reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

[EFerrari]

33. Propaganda alert. Why is Reuters reporting the immortal opinion

of JOHN EFFEN BOLTON?