Neo-Cons Say Iran Threat Is Played Down

[RedEarth]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 — Some senior Bush administration officials and top Republican lawmakers are voicing anger that American spy agencies have not issued more ominous warnings about the threats that they say Iran presents to the United States.

Some policy makers have accused intelligence agencies of playing down Iran’s role in Hezbollah’s recent attacks against Israel and overestimating the time it would take for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

The complaints, expressed privately in recent weeks, surfaced in a Congressional report about Iran released Wednesday. They echo the tensions that divided the administration and the Central Intelligence Agency during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

The criticisms reflect the views of some officials inside the White House and the Pentagon who advocated going to war with Iraq and now are pressing for confronting Iran directly over its nuclear program and ties to terrorism, say officials with knowledge of the debate.

The dissonance is surfacing just as the intelligence agencies are overhauling their procedures to prevent a repeat of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate — the faulty assessment that in part set the United States on the path to war with Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/washington/24intel.html?ei=5094&en=430690629595a3e0&hp=&ex=1156478400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

[enuffs_enuffs]

1. The same one pony act...

guess creativity is squeezed out of you once limitless greed sets in.

[RumpusCat]

2. God, I don't really have anything useful to add, but....

:scared:

It's bad enough that these "senior Bush administration officials and top Republican lawmakers" are probably talking out of their asses about this for cynical political gain. What's even worse is, even if they were telling the truth and Iran is a much more imminent threat than we believe, there's no way in hell they are competent enough leaders to handle it!

[July]

8. That article is full of "some say," "some say," "some say."

I counted that expression 5 times on page 1. The rest of the article used it and "one senior United States official," "some Democrats," and very few real names throughout. It appears to be nothing more than water-carrying for the war pigs in the Bush administration.

[TheFriedPiper]

3. FEAR FEAR FEAR FEAR 24/7 FEAR FEAR

No wonder cowards vote Republican

[truebrit71]

4. Fool us once, shame on you, shame us tw, er..Don't get fooled again!!

Sorry Neocon thugs, your latest adventure isn't anywhere near being over and it's already cost us a half a trillion dollars and tens of thousands of innocent lives...you don't have the money or the resources to go after yet another paper tiger....

[emald]

5. goddamnit, there was no faulty assessment

the fault was on the part of the assholes bushit and chinney who distorted the information, who lied about it all. Our intelligence was fine, it had the right call all along

[Dhalgren]

6. If US intelligence agencies, headed by

John "Death Squads" Negroponte, say that Iran is not an imminent threat, where are these fascists getting their intel? Why would their intel be better than that of the Dictator's hand-picked "Spook Czar"? These people should be locked up. Not because of what they say, but because of why they say it. We have free speech, but fraud is still a crime, libel and slander are still actionable. These "officials and republican lawmakers" should be jailed...

[librechik]

7. I guess when the people see you are naked

they just aren't going to swoon over your imaginary fine clothing anymore. That must be very upsetting to the poor dears.

Pretty soon we will not only notice they are naked, but point and laugh. The Neocons should prepare themselves for that rather than flowers and candy in the streets of a conquered Iran.

:crazy:

[Blackhatjack]

9. Why Worry? They Make Up Their Own Intelligence Anyway!!

Cheney has already created another Office of Special Plans-type group to give him cherry picked intelligence he can use to argue for an immediate attack on Iran.

[treestar]

10. Too hilarious. They are now obvious and up front about the fact

they aren't getting what they want.

Didn't Rummy start his own spy agency - that would tell him what he wants to hear?