Comments on: Huge Intelligence Scandal: Will All the Pundits Who Relied on the Discredited 2007 NIE on Iran Now…

By: Instapundit » Blog Archive » BACKING OFF ON THAT 2007 NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE: “U.S. intelligence agencies are quietly re…

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:07:04 +0000

[...] Ron Rosenbaum’s demand for pundit apologies is likely to remain [...]

By: Mark in Texas

Mark in Texas — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:14:26 +0000

The 2007 NIE was just one more in a series of CIA leaks during the Bush administration that were designed to politically damage the Bush administration. Who was it that said during his years at the CIA he never met a stupid person, an assassin or a Republican?

Now that the folks at the CIA have their preferred party in power, I can’t work up any outrage for Eric Holder’s ill considered and destructive decision to prosecute CIA officers for actions that their attorneys told them were legal at the time. On the other hand, I guess that it is not too surprising that the people who missed 9/11 and the collapse of the Soviet Union didn’t see that one coming.

By: JM Hanes

JM Hanes — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:57:30 +0000

halqeye:

NIE’s are produced at the request of Congress.

Ron:

I think just about no journalists were actually “conned by the 2007 NIE.” I think they embraced the windfall. The belief that Bush was just looking for an excuse to invade Iran was practically gospel, in all the usual corners. Even the NIE’s agenda driven authors were slightly nonplussed at how over-the-top the headlines were, as the world proclaimed Iran an innocent accused.

By: myth buster

myth buster — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:20:14 +0000

The elites are working from a standpoint that Iran is rational when it clearly isn’t. No rational actor would intentionally use nuclear weapons first against a nuclear-armed enemy, except as a last resort against overwhelming conventional force, and even then, low yield weapons would be used. In the hands of rational actors, city killers prevent war because they make the risks too great- not so with homicidal maniacs intent on conquering the world or dying trying.

By: aloysiusmiller

aloysiusmiller — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:00:38 +0000

Didn’t you vote for Obama Ron?

BTW name some of the pundits. If they have blogs or e-mail addresses I will be happy to forward a link to your column. It is a good point. Some of us (probably not you) thought the NIE non-credible but hey here we are.

By: Whitehall

Whitehall — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:35:20 +0000

Any thoughtful observer discounted the NIE’s weasel words about Iran. It was not even a consistent and complete statement of the situation.

However, it was crafted that way with intent and for a purpose. Somewhere within our government, portions of it act at cross-purposes to our elected leaders and to the interests of the citizens.

I think Scooter Libby’s conviction was a victory for the same people who put out the NIE. Ms. Plame was of both groups.

The story is still vague, the connections tenative, and the motivations foggy – but I don’t like what I can discern.

By: Letalis Maximus, Esq.

Letalis Maximus, Esq. — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:09:11 +0000

Yep. The Davos bit is key. The elites have never cared about anybody but themselves, their power, and their money. Ever. In any society. During any time. At any place.

Eat the rich.

By: Instapundit » Blog Archive » RON ROSENBAUM: Huge Intelligence Scandal: Will All the Pundits Who Relied on the Discredited 2007 N…

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:16:02 +0000

[...] ROSENBAUM: Huge Intelligence Scandal: Will All the Pundits Who Relied on the Discredited 2007 NIE on Iran Now A… “Will the congressional intelligence committees demand to know how such a deliberately [...]

By: ic

ic — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:00:24 +0000

20. Shef Rogers: Chutzpah or not, your gripe should be directed to our Intelligence Services not to the author. Unless because you’re a leftist you would support the NIE eventhough it was fraudulent. They gave us misinformation about Saddam’s WMD and misinformation about Iran’s nuclear plant. They cannot and should never be trusted again.

The Brits don’t trust us, nor the Israelis, nor the Arabs. They planned without our unintelligent Intelligence Services.

By: Shef Rogers

Shef Rogers — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 07:16:03 +0000

This should be the new definition of chutzpah: the same people who told us that Saddam Hussein was about to attack our cities with his WMDs demanding that their opponents own up to false intel estimates. I really almost admire zealotry as fierce and blind as this.