It appears that the recently released National Security Estimate is somewhere between inaccurate and just plain wrong.br /British spy chiefs have grave doubts that Iran has mothballed its nuclear weapons program, as the US report claimed last week. Both the Brits and Israelis believe the CIA was hoodwinked by Teheran; they believe that Iranian staff, knowing their phones were tapped, deliberately gave misinformation. The timing of the CIA report has also provoked fury among British officials who believe it has undermined efforts to impose tough new sanctions on Iran and made an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities more likely.br /It appears that our US spy chiefs were determined to avoid giving President Bush a reason to go to war – as their reports on Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs did in Iraq – that they got it wrong this time. A US intelligence source said that many middle- ranking CIA veterans believe Iran is still committed to producing nuclear weapons and are concerned that the agency lost a number of its best sources in Iran in 2004.br /Diplomats say the chances of winning Chinese and Russian support for strong sanctions in the UN are in freefall. One Western diplomat said that it has created a lot of difficulties because of the timing, just as we were about to go for a third resolution against Iran.br /Our military is still at about 1/3 of the size it needs to be considering how hostile the world is and how poor our intelligence is. We need a lot of ability to respond when things start happening. It’s time to reinstitute the draft now.
