[Dean's World] Aziz P: Iran and the NIE

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Aziz P:
Iran and the NIE
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1196820644.shtml


   I suppose it is somewhat old news by now, but the consensus of all our
   intelligence agencies is that [1]Iran is not actively pursuing a
   nuclear weapons program. I'm not interested in the domestic political
   dimension as to what this means for the Bush Administrations rhetoric
   on Iran. What interests me more is the geopolitical issue of what this
   means for actual policy regarding Iran.

   Some of the better analysis on the issue from the VSP follows:

   Michael Rubin [2]raises some questions about the implications of the
   NIE.

   A USA Today editorial points out [3]three good implications of the
   NIE.

   Michael Cohen of Democracy Arsenal [4]puts the NIE in perspective.

   Abu Aardvark points out that [5]Iran is pursuing economic and
   diplmatic ties with its Sunni Arab neighbors.

   all in all, though, the position that Iran is a rational actor, and
   not an imminent existential nuclear threat to Israel let alone the
   United States, has been thoroughly vindicated by the NIE.

References

   1. http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2007/12/new-intel-estim.html
   2. http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDk2ODAyYmEwZDA3N2ZjNjViYzEwNThhZjhhMmZhMDk=
   3. http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/12/a-sudden-switch.html#more
   4. http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2007/12/a-little-nie-pe.html
   5. http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/2007/12/ahmednejad-and.html