How intelligence is used to betray Americans
by Tina Grazier
When hatred of our president, or partisan politics in general, threatens the safety of America, and indeed the entire world, shouldnt we begin to ask questions? Shouldnt concerns for our own safety and survival cause alarms to go off in both red and blue states? It should, but I doubt if the boys and girls in blue would even notice. Does this willingness to be deceived spring from arrogance or pride? Is it naivete about the threats we face, or ignorance of the stated intentions of our enemies? Is it born of fantasy, a fervent childish desire to live in a sweet and perfect world? The phenomenon of the Barack Obama campaign of change and hope would suggest the latter for a good number of Americans. But in these dangerous times, electing a president solely from a position of hope or from a weary need for change could spell disaster. Our intelligence community and our media have participated in a politics of deception that has helped to foster this “change” euphoria. Now more than ever we need to look beyond the main stream news for a clear picture of the challenges before us.
Last December, at a crucial time in our diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, the Director of National Intelligence went before the Senate Intelligence Committee and delivered the NIE report. Included in the report was information suggesting that in 2003 Iran had discontinued its nuclear weapons program:
Confidence game, By Clifford D. May – Scripps Howard News Service, 12-05-07
As recently as 2005, it was the consensus view of the intelligence community — asserted with “high confidence” — that Iran was “determined to develop nuclear weapons.” But this week, the “key judgments” of a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) were released. This time they conclude — with equally “high confidence”– that in 2003 “Tehran halted its nuclear-weapons program.”
After this report the Bush hating media gleefully reported the news, taking the opportunity to once again make the Bush administration appear inept and stupid. But the news that made all the headlines, the sound bite designed to smear the republican administration, is now reported to have been a crafty political ruse:
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell backpedaled from the December 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) and its claim that, “in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.” *** Not only did McConnell testify that the Islamic Republic was working to master the enrichment of uranium–“the most difficult challenge in nuclear production”–but he also acknowledged that, “because of intelligence gaps,” the U.S. government could not be certain that the Iranian government had fully suspended its covert nuclear programs. “We assess with high confidence that Iran has the scientific, technical, and industrial capacity eventually to produce nuclear weapons,” he testified. *** The NIE was no accident, and McConnell’s pirouette does more than confirm the intelligence community’s sloppiness. The 2007 NIE was built on geopolitical assumptions as much as any hard intelligence, and historians will deem it important not because it was accurate, but because it made utterly clear the collapse of the intelligence community. While the crudeness of its assault on the president’s Iran policy makes it the best example of the intelligence community’s agenda politics, it is far from the only one.
I would think that intelligence suggesting the possibility of covert nuclear programs would be enough to cause deep concern and the need for caution both in policy and in reports made for public consumption. But add to this statements made by Iranian officials and the case for caution is, at least to me, made eminently clear:
Hassan Abbassi, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, said, “We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization … We know how we are going to attack them.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that “a world without the United States … is achievable.”
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I strongly urge you to read the entire Weekly Standard article which illustrates not only this breach of trust regarding international intelligence issues but also political deceptions regarding national issues and elections.
Some of us will go to the polls this November in a cloud of charismatic pixie dust. I pray that those with sense enough to dig deeper will arm themselves with information to help them make a more intelligent and thoughtful decision.