Article

2007-12-06 Home Front: Politix

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Steve White 2007-12-06 00:00|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Iran

#1 Seems to me that the leadership of the American intelligence community has overtly become a political tool. Time to plow it under and start from scratch. There may be an honest one here and there, but it will be too difficult to sort them out.

Posted by gorb 2007-12-06 02:10|| 2007-12-06 02:10|| Front Page Top

#2 Never attribute to malice what can be explained by simple incompetence, gorb.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2007-12-06 08:12|| 2007-12-06 08:12|| Front Page Top

#3 Another double-bind: If the NIE had continued to claim Iran was developing nuclear weapons the left would have denounced its findings - based on press clippings, from what I can make out - only to embrace them if the findings support their only war aim, i.e. to discredit President Bush.

Frankly, with this latest farcical conference for peace in the middle east the President needs no help in discrediting himself.

But by all means, fire everyone at CIA. Start again.

Posted by Excalibur 2007-12-06 09:35|| 2007-12-06 09:35|| Front Page Top

#4 While I am ranting: Closing shop at CIA is not enough. Until the traitors with tenure at our "elite" universities are all fired, we will get nothing but generation after generation of indoctrinated self-hating Americans from which to recruit staff for CIA, the State Department, etc. etc. The rot runs deep.

Posted by Excalibur 2007-12-06 09:36|| 2007-12-06 09:36|| Front Page Top

#5 the "peace conference" was never about peace. It was about isolating the Iranians, the price of oil, and separating Syria. Israel gave away nothing, but they did get to gloat about blowing away the Syrian Nuke plant.

Posted by bman 2007-12-06 10:05|| 2007-12-06 10:05|| Front Page Top

#6 The CIA still sucks but before we get to far ahead of ourselves lets figure out where these 3 stooges (Fingar, Brill, and Vann van Diepen) really are.

I've read in other articles that these guys are with Negroponte in the DNI office.

And all you really need to know that somethings not right is say Vann van Diepen. What the hell sort of name is that besides elitest snob?

Posted by danking70 2007-12-06 11:31|| 2007-12-06 11:31|| Front Page Top

#7 bman and your problem with that is?

Bolton had some interesting things to say about the NIE. Moreover common sense falls into place exposing the NIE report as fairly land tales. Iran is seeking 50,000 centrifuges for,,, making icecream?

Posted by Icerigger">Icerigger 2007-12-06 12:56|| 2007-12-06 12:56|| Front Page Top

#8 Vann van Diepan is a long time Dept of State bureaucrat who, according to this Sun article, has been trying for 5 years to get the US to accept Iran's right to enrich uranium.

Fingar until recently as the Asst. Secy of State for Intelligence & Research. His languages include Chinese and German - he has no expertise in the middle east.

Brill used to serve as US ambassador to the IAEA, where he singularly failed to object strenuously to much of anything.

Posted by lotp 2007-12-06 13:16|| 2007-12-06 13:16|| Front Page Top

#9 I have no problem with that, and love the smell of deception because it smells like Victory.

Posted by bman 2007-12-06 14:43|| 2007-12-06 14:43|| Front Page Top

#10 Never attribute to malice what can be explained by simple incompetence, gorb.

One and the same here, now that I think about it.

Anything that incompetent is bound to end up being used (and used maliciously, as this NIE has been), and anything that is such a tool must be incompetant.

In any case, they're doomed. There is no hope for the current American intelligence community in my eyes. It's going to be impossible to flush out the players, so we may as well flush the whole thing and start again. It needs a structure that can't be hijacked with honest folks running things and policing the products the service provides at all levels.

Posted by gorb 2007-12-06 23:37|| 2007-12-06 23:37|| Front Page Top

23:37 gorb
23:33 OldSpook
23:26 www
23:23 www
23:05 flushing_kenny
22:54 3dc
22:48 3dc
22:30 Barbara Skolaut
22:26 3dc
22:18 Danielle
22:10 Barbara Skolaut
22:06 John Kerry
22:01 Pappy
21:56 Frank G
21:50 SteveS
21:46 Deacon Blues
21:40 Deacon Blues
21:28 Deacon Blues
21:24 Eric Jablow
21:19 Sock Puppet of Doom
21:18 Sock Puppet of Doom
21:12 Eric Jablow
21:08 Eric Jablow
21:02 Old Patriot