Cheney Tried to Stifle Dissent in Iran NIE (National Intelligence Estimate)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Inter Press Service

POLITICS-US: Cheney Tried to Stifle Dissent in Iran NIE
By Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (IPS) - A National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear programme, and thus make the document more supportive of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's militarily aggressive policy toward Iran, according to accounts of the process provided by participants to two former Central Intelligence Agency officers.

But this pressure on intelligence analysts, obviously instigated by Cheney himself, has not produced a draft estimate without those dissenting views, these sources say. The White House has now apparently decided to release the unsatisfactory draft NIE, but without making its key findings public.

A former CIA intelligence officer who has asked not to be identified told IPS that an official involved in the NIE process says the Iran estimate was ready to be published a year ago but has been delayed because the director of national intelligence wanted a draft reflecting a consensus on key conclusions -- particularly on Iran's nuclear programme.

- snip -

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi provided a similar account, based on his own sources in the intelligence community. He told IPS that intelligence analysts have had to review and rewrite their findings three times, because of pressure from the White House. "The White House wants a document that it can use as evidence for its Iran policy," says Giraldi. Despite pressures on them to change their dissenting conclusions, however, Giraldi says some analysts have refused to go along with conclusions that they believe are not supported by the evidence.

Read more: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39978

[H2O Man]

1. Nominated.

People need to understand the implications of this .... I know DUers do, and it is so important that we deliver the message to the general public.

[doublethink]

27. You mean ....

"But the intelligence and facts are being fixed around the policy?" hmmmmmm where have we heard that before? Peace.

[BadgerKid]

32. A quote from my avatar's character

"You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common.
They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit
their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the
facts that needs altering."

Bingo!

[King Coal]

42. Can you imagine how bad you have to be to make Ashcroft and Negroponte look like good guys?

"Cheney's desire for a "clean" NIE that could be used to support his aggressive policy toward Iran was apparently a major factor in the replacement of John Negroponte as director of national intelligence in early 2007.

Negroponte had angered the neoconservatives in the administration by telling the press in April 2006 that the intelligence community believed that it would still be "a number of years off" before Iran would be "likely to have enough fissile material to assemble into or to put into a nuclear weapon, perhaps into the next decade."

Neoconservatives immediately attacked Negroponte for the statement, which merely reflected the existing NIE on Iran issued in spring 2005. Robert G. Joseph, the undersecretary of state for arms control and an ally of Cheney, contradicted Negroponte the following day. He suggested that Iran's nuclear programme was nearing the "point of no return" -- an Israeli concept referring to the mastery of industrial-scale uranium enrichment. "

[LakeSamish706]

2. It just baffles the mind to figure out how a handful of thugs are able..

to hold an entire country hostage for 7 years with no one seeming to do anything about it.

[Hissyspit]

3. And look at the people who are seeming do nothing about it!

Oh, well. What's a few bombs on Iran. :grr:

[simmonsj811]

18. you are so right

:toast:

[90-percent]

4. About Time!

I regret that I have but one nomination to give for the greatest page.

Governmental checks and balances are now starting to re-awaken after seven years of consuming White House Brand date rape drugs.

-85% jimmy

[Spazito]

5. Exactly what happened re Iraq....

with a promising, imo, exception that being "analysts have refused to go along with conclusions that they believe are not supported by the evidence."

My thanks to those courageous, principled analysts!

Recommended.

[LakeSamish706]

6. My dream for one day is to see all of these nim rods hanging in ...

a public square in a city like either New York or Washington, DC... That would make my day, and God knows they deserve it.

[Flabbergasted]

7. Send this to Hoyer and Pelosi. nt

[UpInArms]

8. for the record

[Hissyspit]

9. Excellent.

Thanks.

[sasquatch]

10. Will the pink tutu dems stand up to Cheney now or fold like always?

[Mountainman]

11. self delete

[Uncle Joe]

12. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Hissyspit.

[slipslidingaway]

13. Thanks K&R n/t

[windoe]

14. OMG Cheney is truly evil

Yet another war crime to add to the list. IMPEACH DARTH NOW

[Sam Ervin jret]

15. it's like Deja vu all over again!

[Oilwellian]

16. If this isn't proof of their intent on war with Iran...

I don't know what is. Someone needs to reign in the psychopaths.

[laylah]

17. I got no further than

the first paragraph and my first thought was "I hate him". There ya go...I hate the freakin' weasel, the warmongering bastard from hell, and I can only hope his pacemaker gives out long before my late, 100 yr. old grammy's did...bastard.

Oh, and btw Agent Mike, I am NO threat to that pos; however, I do pray nature takes its course sooner than later!

[KAZ]

19. Thought we'd be done with this POS long ago.

The good die young, the evil just keep on ticking.

Oh, and Agent Mike. Eat shit and die.

[KAZ]

20. Impeachment is way too easy for this traitorous fucktard.

The Cheney and Bush family stain needs to be removed from this country, permanently, the whole lot of em. Let them spend their days in Paraguay.

[rockybelt]

45. way too easy

Better yet, send them to Iraq with no body armor and let them "Lead that country to freedom" from there.

[liberal N proud]

21. Even with this being made public...

They will proceed with their plans to attack Iran, they may just need another 9/11 to provide the driver.
Stupid $%#ers in this country will continue to buy their bullshit. And if there is another 9/11 type attack on this nation god help us because they will get so many of the sheep back into the fold.

These monsters will stop at nothing.

[StClone]

22. Cheney Stifles Climate Efforts too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x120514

With all the shit this dumb psycho has have mucked up, can it be said Dick knows no good and should be taken out of office.

[Bitwit1234]

23. This is one more thing that adds to a reason to impeach this monster.

We have to show bush and cheney that the American People are not going to put up with this stuff from people that are supposed to be supporting us. Not their own interest they are damn it supposed to do what is best for this country.


They have got to be removed from office. IMPEACHMENT is the only remedy to get this information out there. Call, write protest the MSM they are one on the problems...they are not reporting what this criminal element that has taken over our country is doing.

[windoe]

24. What about a

'citizen's arrest' ....better hide in a cave!

[lovuian]

25. They keep using WMD over and over again

Unfreakingbelievable

[cureautismnow]

26. Impeach Already.

This psychopathic killer must be stopped from extinguishing further innocent human life. Impeach. Indict. Imprison. Then rinse and repeat the cycle with Junior.

[Senator]

28. "Stifle Dissent" equals "Defraud Congress" and worse yet...

...Terrorize The American People -- Again!

Failure to Impeach is complicity -- approval -- exoneration for the regime.

Impeachment is our ONLY moral, patriotic option.

---

[JuniperLea]

29. And people have the nerve to say things like this are CT!!!

How many people do you suppose knew about this and kept it a secret?

This evil bastard needs his ass kicked out of the country!

[Megahurtz]

30. Impeach DickHead!

[malaise]

31. Does this thug ever fugging learn?

IMPEACH!

[TwilightGardener]

33. This is hugh, but sadly, no one will care--we expect illegal bullshit like this.

[Hissyspit]

34. Cheney Deja Vu:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2241468&mesg_id=2241468

[Hissyspit]

35. .

[me b zola]

36. This would make for powerful testimony in the Judiciary Committee

In the meantime I'm hoping that Keith will cover this story.

[NewJeffCT]

37. I'm sure this is true, but is IPS News a credible source?

I've never heard of them before?

[Hissyspit]

38. Yes.

"Inter Press Service (IPS) was set up in 1964 as a non-profit international cooperative of journalists. Its founders were Roberto Savio, an Italian freelance journalist, and Pablo Piacentini, an Argentinean political scientist who was then a student in Rome. Savio served as Director General of IPS until 1999 and is now the agency's president emeritus. Piacentini served the organisation in various capacities and is currently editor of the columnist service.

In its early days, the primary objective of IPS was to fill the information gap between Europe and Latin America after the political turbulence following the Cuban revolution of 1959. The agency’s network grew steadily and expanded to include Asia and Africa. The objectives broadened – to cover news from the "Third World", give a voice to the voiceless, promote information on development issues, and help create a better balance and flow of international news.

In 1994, in order to strengthen its non-profit identity, IPS changed its legal status to that of a ‘public-benefit organisation for development cooperation’, open to journalists, professional communicators and bodies active in the fields of information and communication."

From Wikipedia:

Inter Press Service (abbreviated: IPS) is a global news agency. Its main focus is the production of independent news and analysis about events and processes affecting economic, social and political development.

The agency has established a niche in the international mediascape, not only by providing professional reporting on the so-called global South, civil society, and globalization, but also by covering topics in a more in-depth way than is common in the mainstream news.

- snip -

The actual role of IPS in the international mediascape is only marginal (cf. Boyd-Barrett and Rantanen, 1998: 175). This is due to a number of problems, such as:

IPS's limited financial resources;
its inability to cover all countries with an appropriate number of correspondents (in many countries, IPS only employs stringers);
because of the two aforementioned limitations, IPS can only provide a scattered coverage about regions and issues, and is often unable to produce timely news and follow-ups;
IPS's focus on background news "is not particularly attractive to market-driven commercial media” (Giffard, 1998: 200).
However, it seems that IPS has played a significant part in shaping the modern media and their news. Some of its structural innovations have been adopted by other international media organizations, most notably regarding the employment of local journalists for the coverage of developing countries. Furthermore, IPS claims to have led the way to a particular style of news (by demonstrating that in-depth analysis is as much part of the news as immediate coverage of the "facts”) and to raising awareness about less "newsworthy" topics, such as poverty or the environment.

Even if IPS's direct outreach is rather limited, it plays an important role in providing background news to journalists, decision-makers from governments and UN institutions, and civil society organizations.

In recent cases, IPS exercised direct influence on the mainstream media agenda:

When a federal building in Oklahoma was attacked in 1995, the U.S. media blamed Arab terrorists. IPS was the first news outlet to maintain that white U.S. Americans from the ultraright had in fact committed the bombings. The assertion was finally confirmed and accepted by the mainstream media.

[NewJeffCT]

39. Thanks

As I said, there was no doubt in my mind that it was true, but I wanted to make sure we're not dealing with another Capitol Hill Blue or similar.

[xenofilms]

40. cia

they may be watching

[bdamomma]

41. we need impeachment to stifle Cheny

[flpoljunkie]

43. Democracy Now is reporting this today, but there seems to be mention of this in the M$M.

[BuyingThyme]

44. Well the, I'm sure Congress will hold emergency hearings on this over the weekend.