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Dan Froomkin has a good summary of the "same song, second verse" campaign going on among neocons in the Bush Administration with regard to Iran. Emptywheel sums it up, thusly, at NextHurrah:
Basically, the report appears to be the first salvo in a fall campaign to justify a war against Iran (with Andy Card gone, they've perhaps forgotten that you don't introduce a new "product" in August). Only this time, they're not just presenting us with shitty intelligence and telling us we have to go to war (though the report does serve that purpose too). They're also saying, "the intelligence is shitty, so we cannot negotiate and therefore have to go to war."
Is it me, or did Bill Kristol just get all tingly with excitement?
The NYTimes reports on the issue today, but fails to catch what Dafna Linzer does in the WaPo:
The 29-page report, principally written by a Republican staff member on the House intelligence committee who holds a hard-line view on Iran, fully backs the White House position that the Islamic republic is moving forward with a nuclear weapons program and that it poses a significant danger to the United States. But it chides the intelligence community for not providing enough direct evidence to support that assertion....Jamal Ware, spokesman for the House intelligence committee, said three staff members wrote the report, but he did not dispute that the principal author was Frederick Fleitz, a former CIA officer who had been a special assistant to John R. Bolton, the administration's former point man on Iran at the State Department. Bolton had been highly influential in the crafting of a tough policy that rejected talks with Tehran.
Look, it's our buddy Fred Fleitz, now working for the House Intel Committee (read: now with his ass planted firmly there to keep an eagle eye on Pete Hoekstra for the Cheney/Addington faction) who was the person who wrote the report. Shocking. Shocking I tell you.
And sloppy reporting by the NYTimes to miss this element, given Fleitz' heightened profile after the Valerie Plame Wilson outing and his former hatchet man status as John Bolton's former number two when Bolton was at State. Especially given Fleitz record as a hardliner when it comes to Iran -- and the questions of his involvement in some other odd moments in Bolton history.
But how much can we count on anything Fleitz says in the report after what, I'm sure, was an exhaustive investigation involving a gathering of all evidence and facts -- because he's not the sort of fellow who would ever cook the books to support an assertion and and outcome without the underlying facts, right?.:
[The report's] authors did not interview intelligence officials.
Oh yeah, no stone unturned. No assertion unchallenged. Every fact backed up in triplicate. Not so much. Jeebus, do these people learn nothing?
Laura Rozen, guest blogging at Washington Monthly, has more.
(The cartoon above is a Wasserman, who usually appears in the Boston Globe. I found this one on another website but they didn't have a link back to where it was found in the archives. It was altogether too perfect for this deja vu, wouldn't you say?)
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Nedth?
frist
I’m thinking the Democrats need to feature “Won’t Get Fooled Again” rather prominently in their commercials…
Fitz :)
I just threw up a little in my mouth.
‘Facts are stupid things‘, Redd.
;>)
[The report’s] authors did not interview intelligence officials.
That really is brilliant. Not even a pretense of having done anything other than pull it out of their own asses. If the Democrats roll over for war again, they *deserve* to get their asses beat.
Okay, time to scrounge some early dinner before my flight. Later, y’all.
Hezbollah’s successful effort that prevented Israel’s tanks and army from advancing into Lebanon no doubt has convinced Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and their neocon buddies that we are going to have to use tactical nuclear weapons when we invade Iran before the national elections in November. No, I’m not crazy. They are, and so a new round of the same old bullshit lies begins, again.
Hezbollah stashed their weapons and ammunition in an elaborate network of underground tunnels, a strategy that they copied from the Iranians. Like the Iranians, they also camouflaged the entrances to the tunnels so that they could not be detected in satellite photographs, or by pilots flying reconnaisance missions. Smart bombs turned into stupid bombs because Israel didn’t know where the entrances were and the bombs couldn’t penetrate far enough into the ground to damage the tunnels. Hezbollah fighters popped up all over the place like prairie dogs, fired their weapons and anti-tank missiles, and disappeared back into their tunnels before the Israelis could figure out where they were and return fire. One Hezbollah sharpshooter killed two Israeli soldiers with two shots from 500 yards, for example.
Now a rational person would realize that the Iranian defense system will be at least as formidable. Such a person also would realize that the military option no longer makes sense, particularly given the depleted state of our military that is caught between warring factions in Iraq’s deepening civil war. A rational person would do everything possible to repair, heal, and strengthen relationships with our former allies in order to get their support to back a negotiated settlement with Iran that recognizes its legitimacy and right to use nuclear power for peaceful purposes subject, of course, to regular inspections by the United Nations. Diplomatic sanctions, including trade embargos supported by our previous allies, would be applied to exclude Iran from participating in the world economy if Iran refused to agree to terms. This “sane” approach worked with Iraq in the sense that its economy foundered and it could not develop weapons of mass destruction.
All humans no matter their skin color, culture, or religious beliefs must learn to accept each other and cooperate to clean-up this planet and end global warming because time is running out. War is not an option.
Unfortunately, this criminal administration isn’t rational and the only lesson that it has learned from Israel’s defeat by Hezbollah is the need to use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran’s underground defenses. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and their neocon buddies are determined to play Whack a Mole with nuclear bombs, no matter the consequences, because as Paul Wolfowitz famously said a few years ago, “We can.”
The question that we have to answer is what the hell are we going to do to stop these madmen?
I would indeed. Gaddammit.
Why does anyone believe, for even a moment that Iran doesn’t already have nukes? Weapons were very likely made available to them in the mid- 90s after the break-up of the USSR. To think that they passed on them seems…naive. I fully believe that if Tehran really wanted to “wipe Israel off the map” via nuclear device, they already could have done it.
Witchywoman here. My “leave a reply” dialog box just presented me with someone else’s name and email account, so I’m commenting to see whose name shows up on the post!
$Deity, I hope we Americans aren’t stupid enough to fall for this horseshit again.
And it’s using the other name! Oh, Tech Support! There appears to be a problem here.
One Hezbollah sharpshooter killed two Israeli soldiers with two shots from 500 yards, for example.
If that’s true, it was some fine shooting. And elaborate tunneling or not, it’s often hard to tell the direction of incoming fire if there’s insufficient volume and multiple possible fields.
ElectricGrendel @ 5
Vurp!
:-)
The neocon strategy
You lefties listen to Freddy Fleitz. He knows what he’s talking about when he says that Iran is a threat to Isr….I mean, the great democratic country of America, the best, the wisest, the most beautiful (OK, enough suckholing. ed.) United States of America.
Iran’s gonna getcha! Boo!
The marketing campaign has been underway for a couple of weeks. Here’s Greenwald’s summary of the Newsweek piece written by Michael Gerson, who is Bush’s “axis of evil” speechwriter.
Tingly? Breaking Blue reports Bill Kristol as saying war may come with Iran sooner than anyone expects.
Matt Yglesias pretty much sums up my own thinking about this report.
Dr. Bong @ 16
…at least it wasn’t a shart
We were talking about this yesterday(?), but I don’t recall whether anybody’s posted this link:
[Iraq veterans’] Group: Bush can reinstate the draft, or lose the Iraq War
And yet they’re thirsty for more?
this country can’t afford any more Fleitz of fancy
Any photos of Droopy Joe traveling in CT today with Republicans Jody Rell and Rob Simmons?
Please, oh, please, let there be some.
From the (overworked) Department of Make Shit Up.
Thats where this one comes from.
Fuckers are like hamsters on crack in an excersize wheel when it come to finding ways to shove war with Iran.
I have a T-shirt from back in the day when we were dicking around with Iran. It’s still relevant today.
The message is simple enough that even Stupie should get it;
FUCK IRAN
Get us the hell out if Iraq and the ME and let ‘em have at it.
Look on the bright side. At least Judy Miller will get laid again.
tommy yum @ 23
That’s not the bright side if I have to think about it. Ewwwww…
EPU’d, for *ilson:
I guess we finally know their exit stategy: send the troops over the border into Iran.
If this administration was so damned worried about Iran, why did they “out” Valarie Plame, whose main work at the time was on intel about Iran’s nuclear capabilities? Never put security before political revenge!
liberalis @ 26
ouch!
HAW! Good one, Biny.
I don’t understand.
How can the intelligence on Iran be bad?
Karl Rove just said that the President listens in on all the IMPORTANT terror calls these days.
So confusing.
The thing to do is to start putting up the statements about Iran with statements about Iraq to remind the 28 people who still refuse to believe we were bamboozled into the Iraq war that they’re working on Phase Two, and all they had to do was change “Q” to “N.”
Why anyone would believe ANYTHING these people say about ANYTHING is beyond my ability to comprehend. They will ignore reality, they will ignore the best military and diplomatic experts, they will ignore the military readiness issues, they will ignore the inability of Israel to conquer Hezbollah, they will ignore what is happening in Iraq, they will ignore the drain on the Treasury, they will ignore the possible ramifications, they will ignore any calls for plans or strategies. They can see nothing but the delusion of the master plan – and they have another two years in office.
They are insane, and that’s a point that should be hammered home loud and long.
Who’s whose poodle now, Boooooshie?
Is Fred really related to Heidi Fleiss or he is just a pimp like her?
Valerie Plame would have been one of those awful government employees with a conscience and a backbone, who would have refused to be bamboozled into playing the “cook the Intelligence” game.
Adrienne @ 27
Somebody last thread (wish I could recall who) has quite a good theory on this, Adrienne: that the Plame gambit was a Tidy Twofer, in that it not only “punished” Joe Wilson but also rid them of a later-apt-to-be-problematic voice of caution against this ultimate plan of theirs to “liberate” Iran. (’Course, the whole timetable’s now about three years behind where they meant it to be by now … but they’re nothing if not stubborn.)
punaise @ 25
as a Hoosier, I take note of your California law. Today I also bought up a defensive URL name for my Congresslady — just in case.
If we attack Iran, then they, and or someone else will attack Israel. Since Israel didn’t do all that well in Lebanon with conventional weapons and ground action, Israel will probably go a little nuclear. Perhaps this is the plan. And if it (nuclear) happens… it won’t matter much. I just can’t visualize China, Russia, India, Pakistan and others sitting back without joining the atomic fray. If I lose anymore slumber at night over these sorts of things, I simply won’t be sleeping. Can humans adapt to life without snooze?
*ilson - as far as I know CA hasn’t declared you persona non grata yet….
punaise @ 38
But mind you, *ilson, pun knows nauthink.
the “same song, second verse” campaign
With apologies to Peter Noone:
I’m lyin’ through my teeth, I am
Lyin’ through my teeth, I am, I am
I’ve been spewin’ out the ol’ B-S
I’ve led this country into quite a mess
I’m really good at mendacity
I couldn’t tell the truth if I was paid
I’m the king of inveracity
Lyin’ through my teeth, I am.
Second verse, same as the first!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 37
you don’t snooze, they ruse
*ilson is always persona gratis.
Mary @ 30
Didn’t the NSA lose its ability to do SIGINT vs. Iran when a certain Ahmed Chalabi told them they’d better improve their crypto?
*ilsona gnawin’ gratis
Christy — I’d read the WaPo article earlier, but in the Boston Globe. That version is shorter. Notice that in the Globe version, the second para you quote, referring to Fleitz and Bolton, does not appear. Instead, the authorship discussion in the BG version ends with this:
http://www.boston.com/news/wor.....se_report/
I suspect that papers across the country that use WaPo articles also got the shorter version.
So this is a good front page to spotlight to reporters all over the country.
al-Scooter at 45 — a-yup. That would be the rumor.
(CNN) Ray Nagin: “You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed, and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair here.”
Also: Santy now trails Casey by 5 points.
lotus @ 39
but, but, but I listen to coffee pots!
For some Iranian perspective and some debunking of the admin and neocon verbal vomit, may I suggest the Wapo today and the chat with this man:
.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....nav=topnav
The difference between Iraq and Iran is that Iran does have a nuclear program. No questions. So does Pakistan - where Bin Laden hangs out.
Well Mr. Hoekstra?
Off topic, but:
New Haven registrar allows Lieberman to retain his Democratic registration.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 37
going “a little nuclear”? Israel is only 20 times the size of the city of Indianapolis — just a ‘little nuclear’ onto Israel would obliterate it. Israel should be cautious about those 200 nukes they wield…
al-Scooter @ 43
Surely you don’t mean that nice man who came to give the AEI speech as a guest of Rice and Cheney and despite the outstanding FBI investigation…
All I can hope for is mass resignations at the Pentagon and in the military, along with mass resignations from DOD and CIA - and for loud protestations against being strong-armed into another war. Some might say that that will leave the good little lapdogs to do Bush’s bidding, but I disagree.
I think a Democratic Congress could help stop the steamroller, but it worries me that Bush and his neo-con handlers might be stupid enough to try to get something started before the Dems could take over.
Grrrr…
Realist @ 40
Bravo!
Check the chart on page 15 of the report that Fleitz wrote. The chart purports to illustrate the ranges of Iranian ballistic missiles. Four concentric circles are depicted–all which appear to demonstrate missiles being launched from Bahrain–at least they appear to be launched outside of Iran. Also, the missile depicted with the longest range by over twice as far as the next missile apparently does not exist. The Shahab-4 had development shelved earlier this year. More hype.
Mehlman on Wolfie - my ears r bleeding
Yes, quite troo. But recall: if you rooze; you looze.
Besides al-Scoots, Rove has already said all we have to do is listen - understanding what we hear doesn’t really matter.
Sheez, sometimes I feel like the NSA is the only one really listening to me.
Did they ever get more friends to sign up for their social network page?
Mary @ 50
Iran is starting the process of uranium separation, a precursor to the possibility of atom bombs. Pakistan has already done all that and has exploded test atom bombs…
btw, Pakistan has a population of 200,000,000 — an awful lot of folk, eh?
All I can hope for is mass resignations at the Pentagon and in the military, along with mass resignations from DOD and CIA - and for loud protestations against being strong-armed into another war. Some might say that that will leave the good little lapdogs to do Bush’s bidding, but I disagree. …
Yeh, that’s what I’m hanging the remaining fragments of my hat on too, Anne.
I have it on mute, twolf1– my eyes have sprung a red leak though. Better go clean up before the contractor arrives to bid on a job.
These long six years have been very messy– thank goodness for hydrogen peroxide.
al-Scooter @
45
Yes, Chalabi blew it. What ever happened to that investigation? Oh, never mind.
*ilson #52:
I’ve a feeling that the relationships across these contries aren’t quite as clear-cut as we’ve been led to believe. When you have Israel selling sensitive miltech (which IIRC we supplied them) to the PRC, I’m not willing to speculate on how the calculi would go. So IMO, it’s like 1914 except that we don’t really know who all of the Allies are and all of the Entente might be.
Other than that, everything’s peachy.
twolf1 @ 57
Is he asking him about Adapt to Win? *g*
angie @ 49
Geez, is that all? He needs to sit down and listen to the Moustache of Understanding, get himself a real education.
twolf1 @ 57
That’s because he plays both the shrillest and lowest notes on the Mighty Wulitzer. We need an unplugged version.
Mary @ 59
I’d rather hoped to get that last bite of sandwich down before I saw this, but the resulting salami hairball was more than worth it!!
Don’t give up too quickly. As long as we have someone reliable running CIA . . .
KennyBoi Mehlman is looking remarkably haggard …
Why does mehlman always get an open forum?
wolf - as chairman of the RNC - how does it feel to abandon the CT race?
lambert strether @
53
There are no words.
but, but we got reeeeal good intel from the MEK
http://rawstory.com/news/2006/....._0413.html
The Nefarious Leslie @ 66
Big ol’
707
goes out to NefLes!
wolf- have u given up on CT?
Mehlmen - We are focusing our resources on candidates that have a chance.
wolf - r u backing either Lieberman or Lamont?
Mehlmen - I, I, I, I am leaving it to the people of the state to decide.
when asked about Joe and Ned, KennyBoi was actually stammering — and he is usually so glib !
Republican Strategy: Caught in Iran
War with Iran is fine so long as the first boots on the ground there are being worn by members of the Bush family.
twolf1 @ 75
So, who gets to decide in those other states?
That WAPO article also had this to say:
“”We want to avoid another ’slam dunk,’ ” Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said in an interview yesterday, explaining why the staff report was made public before it had been approved by the full committee.” (emphasis mine).
So let’s see here:
1. Report is singularly written by a former Amb. Bolton hatchet man, a hard-liner on Iran.
2. Report didn’t interview any Intelligence officials.
3. Report was made public by Repug committee chair without approval by the full committee or any Democrat.
4. Repugs have a habit of lying before elections to get us into wars.
5. And oh by the way, another election is coming up.
Guess we should swallow this whole! After all, the American people know who they can trust!
lotus @ 74
Agreed, lotus. LOL. Wonder if the gentleman can translate dubya for us and the Hezbollians.
Badwater 78 - the twins need to wear BDUs and eat MREs
Mary @ 69
Oh, that’s right — Yes’m, I feel 1,000% bettah now, thankee.
oofda @ 56
Not only that, but Matthew Yglesias, sitting in for Josh Marshall, says that the graphic shows the missiles being fired from … Kuwait.
*ilson46201 @ 70
This sounds like a job for Millineyman and his colleagues. I bet they could come up with an appropriate costume to buck him up. Or darkblack…
This article is a fairly short read.
H/T to TPM for the link.
Definitely read the last paragraph…..
Bad Intelligence–But in Which Direction?
Since the topic of the day seems to be right-wing anger at insufficiently panicky intelligence assessments on Iran, it might be worth looking at how bad U.S. intelligence on Iran is–and in which direction it’s been wrong.
Anthony Cordesman and Khalid al-Rodhan have helpfully assembled a catalog of intelligence community predictions about Iran’s nuclear weapons program in their excellent book, Iran’s Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Real and Potential Threat. Here are just a few assessments:
snip
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org.....direction/
“same song, second verse” … as it comes along, it’ll just get worse.
The real question for Mehlman should have been:
Who do you think will support Republican policies and President Bush better - Lieberman or Schlesinger?
CNN - J.C. Watts just called Plan B “an abortion the day after”
Does anybody have a linky for whatever Howard Dean said about Katrina today? Before I hadda pick myself up off the flo’ again (h/t NefLes), I looked up and glimpsed him briefly on muted CNN . . .
A version of the question Hillary posed to Rumsfeld is the question that should be asked over and over and over again, of every chickenhawk and Iran War cheerleader: “You’ve been wrong on pretty much every aspect of the war, from the intelligence all the way up to where we are today; why should we believe what you’re saying now?”
twolf1 @ 89
At what point will abstinence become “abortion the day before?”
al-Scooter @ 85
Right up beardy’s alley too, so we better call him in on it.
Mary @ 92
At what point will sex be made illegal? When will women go back to being chattel (property)?
*ilson46201 @
72
perhaps he was up all night washing dishes in Rockey’s trailer…
At what point will abstinence become “abortion the day before?”
I think that it already happened - about 6 years ago.
See The DeciderTM has a plan, it’s a plan ya see, he knows what’s going on and y’all don’t, he’s gonna take care of all the nonbelievers ya see.
See, he’s determined to strike, because he hears voices — God’s voice — and no body can overrule The Big Decider in the SkyTM. Ya unnerstand?
Well, there goes my claim to fame. I knew Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto (which just got downsized to a non-planet), cause his son and I used to play baseball as kids in New Mexico. He was the most famous person I’d ever met, at least until Christy at daily Kos. Now it’s just Christy. Thank god for Christy.
Badwater @ 78
boots on the ground ain’t the plan for this war. this war’s plan is “ground-into-glass.”
Totally OT, but Hunter needs to be an honorary Firedog for this post at Kos
Warning: no liquids while reading…
Republican Cheerleaders:
Gimme an M*E*K
Gimme a P*K*K
Add up the K-s and whadda we got?
YEAH YEAH GO TEAM GO!
lotus @ 93
“I love it when a plan comes together!”
Anne @ 93
Yes. And Hillary is also a chicken-hawk. Me thinks.
al-Scooter @
87
The Chairman has no clothes, as far as I’m concerned (NSFW)
;>)
look, THIS IS AMERICA’S CHANCE!
now we can EXPOSE the PNAC
we can show WITH NO DOUBT this was all planned
this might be the bell that wakes Americans to the fact that their government is under seige
darkblack #106:
Gosh, that was… realistic!
uh oh — Jeff Greenfield gives credit to the internets with getting rid of incumbents…
shhhhhhhhhh.
The Nefarious Leslie @ 84
YOu know how it is - all those ME countries look alike …
Anne @ 94
Not soon enough, if Scalito has his way.
al-Scooter @ 108
One might even say … Natural.
;>)
Oklahoma kiddo @ 103
And every one of the incumbents who are still hanging in there with the idea that we “had to” invade Iraq and we have to “finish the job” ought to be on full notice that their own jobs are going to be in serious jeopardy if they roll over and go along with any of this Iran crap.
Anne @
96
At what point will saying ‘no’ to sex = abortion, the day before…