Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:55:29 AM
I just realized that the new NIE is a no-lose situation for the Left.
At the moment, the NIE is being used as a big, blunt object with which they can beat up on Bush. The State Department can use it to justify their usual dovish, coddling policies and the political left can use it to say Bush is a mindless warmonger who ignores the facts.
But what if Iran detonates a bomb in a few years? Well, guess what: The Left can say they had nothing to do with the NIE. You see, it was created during the Bush administration, so it is Bush's fault that we underestimated Iran.
See, a no-lose bet for the left.
When, oh when are we going to drain that left wing swamp at Foggy Bottom? We need to purge the careerist, dictator coddling, stability obsessed lot at State as soon as possible. I would vote for any candidate who promised a purge of State (and the CIA) regardless of what else he promised.
Oh, for those who missed the links, some articles a bit more critical of the NIE (Thanks to Daniel Pipes):
http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=376&PID=0&IID=1948&TTL=Decoding_the_U.S._National_Intelligence_Estimate_on_Iran's_Nuclear_Weapons_Programhttp://www.meforum.org/article/1808
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/opinion/06milhollin.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=middleeast&pagewanted=print&oref=sloginhttp://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=NIE+report+fails+to+explain+retreat+on+nuclear+weapons+|+Philadelphia+Inquirer+|+12/06/2007&expire=&urlID=25278946&fb=Y&url=http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20071206_Nhttp://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847275020&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFullhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/05/AR2007120502234.html?http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2689