Friday, November 16, 2007

Estimates ...

Seems the only people who think invading Iran is a good idea are the neocons. Kevin Drum links to an article on the National Intelligence Estimate.

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.

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.

...


Because I'd bet those 'key findings' probably say Cheney is fucking crazy and should be locked in a room with rubber wallpaper. As Kevin says:

...

Those are your choices. The NIE's key findings, which are normally released, are being withheld because (a) they contain dissents Dick Cheney doesn't like, or (b) because they might expose U.S. intelligence capabilities. If you choose (b), I have a subprime loan you might be interested in taking a look at.


I wonder, since the Chimp and Cheney have set the bar so low, will we ever get another government that doesn't lie, cheat, and fudge the facts to suit their political needs? Somehow, I don't put much faith in the Dems to give back some of the vast power amassed in the Executive over the past 7 years. If the whiny Rethugs have any use, it is that they might be able to force the Dems to return the power structure on Washington to where the Founders envisioned. You know they, even in a minority, wouldn't let a Dem president get away with half as much as the Spineless Ones did with the Chimp.

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