Cheney Tried To Suppress Dissenting Views In Iran Intelligence Estimate

The Bush Administration apparently is not that serious when it comes to examining all the facts. Cheney Tried to Suppress Dissenting Views In Iran Intelligence EstimateBy Cliff Montgomery – Dec. 1st, 2007A Bush Administration National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran’s nuclear program has been withheld from public view for over a year, thanks to White House attempts to talk the intelligence community into eliminating judgments which do not match Vice President Dick Cheney’s preconceived notions on the subject, say two former CIA officers familiar with experts who worked on the study.NIEs encompass the conclusions of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies about a certain country or issue.But the U.S. intel community–still reeling from this administration’s deliberate manipulation of intelligence in 2002-2003 which led to the current Iraq fiasco–produced an Iran estimate which retained those dissenting views, according to the two CIA officers who talked in early November to Inter Press Service (IPS), a liberal newswire service.The Bush Administration apparently has decided to publish the full draft NIE for those involved with U.S. intelligence–but it will not be making its principal findings public.One of the former CIA officers told IPS on condition on anonymity that an official who worked on the NIE has said that the Iran study was in fact completed a year ago, but that National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has withheld its publication because he wished for an estimate which struck out findings differing from the White House line on Iran’s nuclear program.The administration’s alarmist view on Iran has been most eagerly pronounced by Cheney’s office. It is in many ways a repeat of the false appeals to fear which got America into Iraq–which also found its loudest public voice in Dick Cheney.There is clear disagreement in the U.S. intelligence community about the level of threat currently posed by Iran’s nuclear program, the intelligence official who worked on the NIE is to have said to the former CIA officer.The Bush White House “refused to come out with a version that had dissenting views in it,” the former CIA officer told IPS.Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi gave a similar account to the wire service of the Bush Administration’s attempts to change the Iran NIE . Like the other former officer, Giraldi has based his statements on discussions he’s had with friends in the U.S. intelligence community.Intelligence analysts have been forced to reconsider and rewrite their conclusions three times thanks to White House pressure, states Giraldi.”The White House wants a document that it can use as evidence for its Iran policy,” Giraldi told IPS. But some U.S. intelligence analysts apparently have decided that when the lives of American troops are on the line, truth matters more than the whims of career politicians, added Giraldi.In October 2006, The American Conservative printed an article by Giraldi which stated that the Iran NIE was in its final form when Cheney’s office began objecting to its conclusions, both on Iran’s nuclear program and on that country’s current role in Iraq.The NIE originally ruled that there was no confirming evidence to back administration claims that Iran has been arming Shi’ite combatants in Iraq, wrote Giraldi.A public confession this spring confirmed that the Bush Administration was calling for the intelligence community to reconsider its conclusions in the final draft NIE on Iran. The previous Iran NIE, finished in spring 2005, concluded that Iran may produce a nuclear warhead sometime between 2010-2015.National Intelligence Council Chairman Thomas Fingar admitted in a National Public Radio  interview conducted this spring that the most recent Iran NIE had been delayed. He also stated that the intelligence estimate “might change”, claiming “new reporting” from the U.N.-affiliated International Atomic Energy Agency and “some other new information we have” as the reasons for the delay.Fingar then added, “We are [also] serious about re-examining old evidence.”But the Bush Administration apparently is not that serious when it comes to examining all the facts, Mr. Fingar. And for seven years of a long national nightmare, that’s been its biggest problem.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!