Betrayal or Deception: The Case of the NIE Report By Mark Silverberg

They must be celebrating in Tehran. On December 3^rd, and in direct opposition to the conclusions drawn from Israeli intelligence sources, a National Intelligence Estimate concluded that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 with no evidence to suggest it had re-started it. "Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons," says the summary's second sentence while expressing only "moderate confidence" that Tehran has not re-started the military program. The report says "with high confidence" that Iran did have a secret nuclear weapons program and that it stopped only after it got caught and was threatened with international punishment. Presenting the NIE Report, Bush’s national security adviser Stephen Hadley said: “The estimate offers ground for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically without the use of force, as the administration has being trying to do.” The President followed up with calls to world leaders and held a White House news conference to argue that the new National Intelligence Estimate only reinforces the need for more diplomatic pressure against Iran. Bombing Iran, it seems, is now off the table.

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