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Monday, December 3, 2007

Iran? Yeah, Just Faking It (like Saddam?)

The American spy agencies that have, historically, not known anything about anything have issued a report claiming to know something.

Nothing good can come from this something.

  • -Faith in the CIA, not that it was much justified, has not been restored.
  • -The practice of issuing NIEs to the public, because this Executive seems to have a talent for sublimating facts and fact-patterns to 'policy', when the spirit moves, puts how much of governance in the hands of agency technocrats who have been wrong more often than right? What's more, how does this help the diplomatic effort (to bring Iran into compliance with IAEA, etc.), to handle "intelligence" this way?
  • -The non-proliferation regime is not strengthened when the lead countries cannot seem to get their estimates of what is going on communicated without bias, causing the other nations who must buy into collective actions, like sanctions, to ... be unable to steer their own ships of state by a beacon of competence, patience, and truth on the matter.

Those people who thought that the 2006 bombing in Lebanon was a 'demonstration' for Iran's benefit appear to have ... missed the mark ... WIDE, if this NIE turns out to be accurate.

Oh, spot oil prices didn't move much today. humm... Did the markets say, "Eh, another American piece of paper about the world..."