The American Spectator

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Vindication and Vindictiveness

12.6.07 @ 12:01AM

UNBELIEVABLE
Re: Philip Klein's Has Bush Been Vindicated on Iran?:

Saying that President Bush is vindicated if the NIE is accurate is one big "if," especially given that the guys who produced these things do not have anything like a good record. Why should anybody believe the "slam dunk WMD" people? Not only do these people have a long, long record of being proven badly wrong, they are also saying that the evidence proves the absence of a nuclear program. It is a basic fact of science and logic that proving a negative case is very difficult, much harder than proving a positive, that something does exist or did happen. Calling this type of reasoning "intelligence" is simply ridiculous -- basing the security of the country on it is outrageously reckless and irresponsible.

After seven years in office the Bush people look even more incompetent and deluded than the day they started, and they were bad enough then. My bet is that the mullahs are grinning from ear to ear.
-- Christopher Holland
Canberra, Australia

While Phil Klein makes some salient points on the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) regarding its actually being a vindication of "W" and his administration's policy towards Iran, I'm not completely convinced. When the NIE was issued, I noted its authors were strong opponents of Bush and his policies towards Iraq and Iran. At this point, I approached the Estimate with a coal shovel to work my way through it. However, I soon found that a front-end loader was going to be necessary for this task.

It's been long apparent to me that there are significant numbers of individuals in the Intelligence Community and the State Department who prefer to apply the softness of their heads to softening the policies we have towards regimes such as Iran. Recent revelations by writers such as Rowan Scarborough and Bill Gertz have shone a harsh light on the inabilities, lack of intestinal fortitude and general weasel-like character of many in the IC. Granted, the anointed Clinton administration did a sensational job of disemboweling the Intelligence Community, but too many of the Clinton acolytes were installed and have remained in too many positions of power there.

I'll borrow the last line of AEI's Michael Ledeen's NRO article on this mess -- "Color me an unbeliever."
-- Jim Bjaloncik
Stow, Ohio

The only thing vindicated by this year's NIE is that nearly 4 years after the event it says may have happened they announce it. In other words, the 16 Intel agencies involved don't have a clue and 4 years after the first mushroom cloud appears somewhere in the world that year's NIE might say something like Iran started their discontinued nuclear program up in 2004...

Working in the Intel business and being a Public School teacher have a lot in common it seems.
-- Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

While Mr. Klein asserts that the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) can be spun into a symbol of victory for President Bush, it can also be spun as a victory for liberals who desire that America disengage from the world power struggles.

In fact the NIE has been politicized because it flip-flopped about Iran's pursuit of its nuclear weaponry program, and has lost its viability as a guide to policy-makers, supporting the latter spin. It is headed for the garbage can. Policy makers will lose confidence in any future NIE's and be forced to turn to other sources of intelligence or a reorganization of the intelligence community to fulfill their responsibilities.

While America has not been blinded, it does now need new glasses.
-- Howard Lohmuller
Seabrook, Texas

The NIE's latest report is not a vindication of anything for which George W Bush would receive credit. Quite the contrary: it is evidence of a "shadow government" operating independently -- and against -- the Commander-in-Chief during wartime.

The purpose? To shift the focus away from national security -- the Democrats' greatest vulnerability -- for the 2008 election.
-- Arnold Ahlert
Boca Raton, Florida

Before we think through the political implications of this National Intelligence Estimate, let's consider the source. The CIA has done everything it could to undermine Bush since 9/11. Valerie Plame actually worked in their WMD nonproliferation office. Her boss, who thought sending Joe Wilson to Niger was a swell idea, is still there. Why should we trust anything they say? Indeed, we should assume that the only purpose of this NIE is to embarrass Bush until proven otherwise.
-- D.M. Duggan

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