Rosenbaum is a jew enough said On Oct 2, 9:25 am, "M. Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote: > Our Intelligence, and TheirsIran, nukes, and geographybyJustin Raimondo, > September 30, 2009 > Ron Rosenbaum, journalist (theNew York Observer, Slate.com), author, and one > of the few liberals to sign on to the ill-fated Pajamas Media fiasco, is > damnedmad:“Will all the pundits who relied on the discredited 2007 NIE on > Iran now admit that they were wrong? That they bought into and kept citing, > without any serious questioning, the now clearly politically skewed analysis > in the so-called National Intelligence Estimate of that year? You remember: > the considered consensus wisdom of the entire U.S. intelligence community, > which misled the world into believing there was nothing to worry about Iran’s > nuclear program, that it had virtually ceased.”Bring in the “congressional > intelligence committees”! Heads must roll! Someone call 911 – because those > shifty-eyed spooks who gave usthe NIE[.pdf]knew,knewabout this “secret > facility” andstillthey insisted the Iranians had given up their nuclear > weapons program in 2003. Has Tehran infiltrated and taken over the CIA? > Well, uh, no. It’s just that, unlike Rosenbaum, the spooks operate in a world > where logic rules and what’s required before reaching a conclusion is > something we call “evidence.” This is a matter Rosenbaum and the > “bomb-bomb-bomb Iran” crowdcouldn’t care lessabout: Iran isevil, the > Qomfacilityis (or was) secret, so what else do we need to know in order to > start World War III? Surely not something so pedestrian and wimpy as solid > evidence. After all, it’s only lives – many thousands of lives lost > tomurderous sanctions, as well as the inevitable war to follow – that are at > stake. > The mere fact that the CIA issued their NIE – averring “with high confidence” > that the Iranians had ceased their previously undisclosed nuclear weapons > program “in the fall of 2003 – with full knowledge of this sinister, secret > facility should tell Rosenbaum something: not that our CIA is a front for the > Iranian Republican Guard, but that he knows less than they do about what is > really going on in Qom. After all, they’ve had years to conduct surveillance > and analysis. Is it possible they know more about Qom than Rosenbaum does? > But of course not. According to Rosenbaum, the NIE was a “lie,” deliberate > “disinformation” planted bythose traitors in the CIAwho ought to be brought > up before a congressional committee and grilled until they’re as overdone as > Rosenbaum’s histrionics. Yes, and all those pundits, too, who took the NIE as > gospel and were “had” – when are they going to “fess up”? > Coming from someone whosupportedthe Iraq war – a warbasedon > completelymade-up“intelligence” – Rosenbaum’s posturing takes the cake. But > then again, as someone who sees Hitler under every bed, it wasn’t hard for > Rosenbaum to be “had,” as he puts it: he and his pro-war confreres on what > today passes for the Left – Christopher Hitchens, Paul Berman, and the rest > of thatLegion of Lost Souls– were ready, willing, and perfectly able to be > let themselves be deceived, because they didn’t care one whit for the truth. > They still don’t. The accusation that Iran is going nuclear in order to make > a bomb that it plans to drop on Israel isnonsense, and they know it. It is > enough for them that Iran exists, and, for some, that it opposes Israel. > The one word these people don’t want to hear is “Dimona” – the site of > Israel’s nuclear weapons research facility. As Juan Coleputs it:“There is no > good evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapons program. It has offered to > allow regular International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of the newly > announced facility near Qom, which would effectively prevent it from being > used for weapons production. > “There is a secret nuclear facility in the Middle East, however, producing > plutonium and not just enriched uranium, which has the capacity to make 10 > nuclear warheads a year.”The idea that Israel could indefinitely maintain a > nuclear monopoly in the region – enforced by the U.S. military – was never a > very practical one. Israel’s attorneys in this country whoarguethat Iranian > success in joining the nuclear club would set off a regional arms race are a > bit late: the race started the moment Israelstolethe technology from the West > and made its own nukes withFrench assistanceand over U.S. opposition. Israel > has beenthreateningtoattackIranforyears, and who is to say they wouldn’t nuke > Tehran? Indeed, one prominent Israeli writer,Benny Morris, made the case for > just that, no doubt with the encouragement of his government. It could be a > bluff – but why take the risk? > Instead, what we need is, yes,sanctions! Backed up with a UN resolution, of > course; these things have to be done properly. And when we’ve degraded life > in Iran to an almost unbearable degree, embargoing such military-related > items as incubators, toilet paper, and toothbrushes – just aswe did in Iraq– > then we can move in for the kill. Just aswe did in Iraq, and just as > Rosenbaum and hiswar-crazed cohortswould like to do in Iran. > Thepropaganda blitzis starting right on schedule, with Obama in the Israelis’ > pocket and sanctions a nearlyforegoneconclusion. The shooting war may be a > bit down the road, but it’s coming. Be patient. There will be a lot of > palaver about “intelligence,” with the Israelis and our European allies > feeding us their own interpretations of what little real information they can > glean about Iran’s capabilities – views skewed (indeed, determined) by simple > geography.Check outthisNew York Timespiece, which has the Germans saying the > Iranians never gave up their nuclear weapons program and the French saying > the IAEA is covering for Tehran. The Israelis, naturally enough, are the most > hysterical. The Americans, on the other hand, are sticking to their guns – in > spite of Rosenbaum – and offering the most conservative estimate, which is > that the Iranians gave up on nukes six years ago and haven’t restarted their > program. Roughly speaking, the closer one is to Iran, physically, the more > one tends to interpret the intelligence to reflect one’s deepest fears, > editing out facts that don’t fit. > The facts arethese: Iran has revealed the existence of the Qom facility and > opened it up to international inspection.Which meansitcan’tbe used to make a > nuclear weapon. In a rational world, that would be the end of the story. In > the world we live in, however – a world in which the Israel lobby > wieldsinordinate powerin Washington and every other Western capital – it is > just the beginning. > Never mind the facts: they can be spun this way and that. Our own > intelligence community, with America’s interests in mind, mayhold outfor > quite a while, but, in the end – just likelasttime– they’ll be inundated by > their rivals among our allies, principally (but not limited to) the Israelis, > who are quite good at feeding disinformation into the intelligence pipeline > without leaving too many fingerprints. That’s one of the disadvantages of > being an empire: we are held hostage by our own satraps, who depend on us for > their very survival – and are therefore passionately committed to shaping our > decisions any way they can. > Iran is challenging both the U.S. and Israel in a region of the world that we > and our allies have long dominated. If they are allowed to get away with it, > other “rogue” nations will get ideas, and then there’s no stopping the > unraveling of the “world order” we have worked so long and hard to maintain. > We may bankrupt ourselves in the process, drive the price of oil up to $200 a > barrel, and start World War III – but confront them we will, of that you can > rest assured. It’s only a matter of time. The pro-war ads havealready begun, > and the “liberal”mediaislining upbehind its commander in chief. All the > actors are in their places, and now the drama – an all-too-familiar drama – > begins. “Weapons of mass destruction," phony intelligence, a compliant media: > all the ingredients are there. All that’s needed is a spark that sets off the > conflagration…http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/09/29/our-intelligence-and-theirs/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
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