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Thursday, 06 December 2007 |
 The Times - The new Iran intelligence report is not an excuse for a ‘peace in our time' moment
This just in: the Third World War has been cancelled. Iran, a founder member of the Axis of Evil, once deemed to be bent on world domination at the point of a nuclear weapon, turns out to have been about as threatening as a teddy bear. Well, an inoffensively named, non-Sudanese teddy bear, I should quickly emphasise. |
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Thursday, 06 December 2007 |
 Daily Telegraph: If generals are fated to prepare for the last war, intelligence agencies always bear in mind the last time they were proved wrong. The ghosts of Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction haunt America's latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear programme. |
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Thursday, 06 December 2007 |
 Daily Telegraph - Leaders: Seldom can a single document have caused quite such a stir. The National Intelligence Estimate, compiled by the US government's 16 intelligence agencies, has stood the conventional wisdom on Iran's nuclear weapons programme on its head. |
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Thursday, 06 December 2007 |
 The Times - Leading Article: The National Intelligence Estimate, a consensus view of 16 American agencies, that Iran appears to have halted its drive to acquire nuclear weapons has wrongfooted politicians in both the West and the Middle East. Many of those trying to halt Iran's efforts to build a bomb have been dismayed by what they see as a judgment that may lessen the pressure on Tehran. |
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Thursday, 06 December 2007 |
 Washington Post - By John R. Bolton: Rarely has a document from the supposedly hidden world of intelligence had such an impact as the National Intelligence Estimate released this week. Rarely has an administration been so unprepared for such an event. And rarely have vehement critics of the "intelligence community" on issues such as Iraq's weapons of mass destruction reversed themselves so quickly. |
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Thursday, 06 December 2007 |
 New York Times: On Monday the United States intelligence community issued what everyone agrees was blockbuster news: a report stating that in the autumn of 2003, Iran halted its nuclear weapons program. The National Intelligence Estimate has been heralded as a courageous act of independence by the intelligence agencies, and praised by both parties for showing a higher quality of spy work than earlier assessments. |
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Wednesday, 05 December 2007 |
 Christian Science Monitor - The Monitor's View: The world shouldn't rely on US spies – right or wrong – but on Iran's full compliance with the IAEA. Why did Iran stop – if it really did stop – a nuclear-bomb project four years ago, as American spy agencies now estimate? Was it the US invasion of Iraq, economic sanctions, Iranian doubts, or what? Should the answer really affect the next steps for further pressure on Iran? |
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Wednesday, 05 December 2007 |
 Wall Street Journal: The release of the new National Intelligence Estimate will provide more fodder for those who claim that "neoconservative ideologues" and the "Israel lobby" are overly alarmed about the rise of Iran. In reality, some of those most worried about the mullahs wear flowing headdresses, not yarmulkes, and they have good cause for concern, notwithstanding the sanguine tilt many news accounts put on the NIE. |
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Tuesday, 04 December 2007 |
 Middle East Times: Who does one turn to for intelligent intelligence in the absence of comprehensive intelligence from the intelligence community? |
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Tuesday, 04 December 2007 |
 The Guardian: Last December the Iraq Study Group, led by James Baker, recommended direct talks with Iran and Syria. Tony Blair responded that there was little purpose unless those parties were "prepared to be constructive". He termed Iran "a major strategic threat to the cohesion of the entire region". The activities since then of Iran's proxies and its client state, Syria, amply confirm Blair's diagnosis. |
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Tuesday, 04 December 2007 |
 Washington Times - Editorial: As the debate rages over a realistic response to the critical threat that Iran poses to our national security — in Congress, in the Bush administration and between the candidates who hope to preside over the next administration — it's time to finally unwind a major policy contradiction that has unnecessarily tied us in knots when it comes to facing down the threat from Tehran. |
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Saturday, 01 December 2007 |
 AP: Iran's potential to shut down nearly 40 percent of the world's oil trade represents a weapon possibly more powerful than its missiles, gunboats or any arms system Tehran claims to possess.
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Wednesday, 28 November 2007 |
 Washington Times - Editorial: The United States recently labeled Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terror group. Many Americans worry that it's not enough. They should, because the IRGC and the Iranian regime have been engaged in a one-sided "Death to America" campaign for 28 years. |
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Friday, 23 November 2007 |
 AFP: The threat posed by Iran and shifting realities in the region have spurred US President George W. Bush to step into the Middle East peace process after years of neglect, experts said Friday. |
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Monday, 19 November 2007 |
 Washington Post: Sen. Barack Obama, desperate to cut down front-running Sen. Hillary Clinton, did not take advantage of one opening during Thursday night's Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas. Obama pulled his punches regarding Clinton's September vote for a resolution that he had earlier said could be used to go to war against Iran. His reticence can be traced to his co-sponsorship of a similarly hawkish amendment in March. |
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Saturday, 17 November 2007 |
 The Scotsman: It is time the European Union imposed sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the main suppressive force of the ruling theocracy in Iran, responsible for many terrorist operations against foreign nationals and Iranian dissidents and the sole controller of Iran's secret nuclear programme. |
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Saturday, 17 November 2007 |
 Wall Street Journal - REVIEW & OUTLOOK: So Iran has now released its blueprints for casting uranium into nuclear warheads. Lest you missed that newsy detail, we suggest you read past today's headlines that the Islamic Republic is being "generally truthful" about its nuclear programs by offering up various tokens of cooperation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). |
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Thursday, 08 November 2007 |
 AP: U.S. defense officials have signaled that up-to-date attack plans are available if needed in the escalating crisis over Iran's nuclear aims, although no strike appears imminent. |
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Monday, 05 November 2007 |
 Daily Telegraph: One of the many tragic consequences of the Iraq war is that it has made it harder to act against Iran. The geographical and alphabetical proximity of the two countries tempts us into false comparisons. Look at the mess the neo-cons made in Iraq, we think. We surely can't let those clots try the same failed strategy against Iran. Nor do you hear this argument only from tousled students.
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Friday, 02 November 2007 |
 Wall Street Journal: The U.S. ratcheted up the financial pressure against Tehran last week, unilaterally slapping sanctions on Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, three state-owned banks, and a number of key officials for their involvement in the regime's terrorist financing and WMD-related activities. |
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Monday, 29 October 2007 |
 Washington Times: A recent report by Gen. Dan McNeill, NATO commander in Afghanistan, details the interception of a shipment of high-tech roadside bombs that clearly originated in Iran. Gen. McNeill stated that the discovery of more than 50 sophisticated roadside bombs and timers in lorries crossing the border from Iran on Sept. 5 proves that Iran's Revolutionary Guards Quds Force are actively supporting the Taliban. |
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Friday, 26 October 2007 |
 The Times - Leading Article: There is a hubris about Iranian behaviour that can be breathtaking. Far from expressing mock horror at Western accusations that Iran is funding Sunni as well as Shia extremists in Iraq, senior Iranian advisers nowadays go out of their way to make explicit their determination to harass and confront the Americans throughout the Middle East. |
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Sunday, 21 October 2007 |
 New York Times: If what they say has unforeseen or unintended consequences, public figures often complain that their words were “taken out of context.” President Bush did not complain about the news coverage when he suggested that an Iran with nuclear weapons could set off World War III, but his remark cries out for context nonetheless. |
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Saturday, 20 October 2007 |
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Sunday Times: Tony Blair has warned us that Iran is a hotbed of Islamic extremism and the world would do well to remember it. |
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Saturday, 20 October 2007 |
 AP: NAME - Ali Larijani. BIRTH DATE - Born 1958 in the Iraqi city of Najaf; naturalized Iranian citizen. QUOTE - Iran's deal with the Europeans to suspend uranium enrichment was "swapping a pearl for a candy bar." |
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Friday, 19 October 2007 |
 Washington Post: When President Bush this week raised the specter of World War III if Iran manages to build nuclear weapons, he not only roiled the diplomatic world, he also underscored how much Iran has come to shadow the political dialogue both here in Washington and on the presidential campaign trail. |
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Wednesday, 17 October 2007 |
 Wall Street Journal - REVIEW & OUTLOOK: Vladimir Putin paid Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a visit yesterday, the first Russian leader to hit Tehran since Joseph Stalin in 1943. But let's not get too carried away by the comparison. |
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Tuesday, 16 October 2007 |
 Gerard Group International: As the United States and Iran move ever closer to the endgame of an exceptionally hostile 28 year confrontation, it might be useful to step back from the heated rhetoric of 2007 to consider how successfully Iran has managed to string things along this far without precipitating an actual military strike by the U.S. |
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Tuesday, 16 October 2007 |
 Washington Times: With Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calling the Iranian regime liars about their nuclear program, it is time to consider sharply cutting off Iran's air links to the outside world. This step would dramatize the seriousness of the efforts to steer Tehran away from developing nuclear weapons. |
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Friday, 12 October 2007 |
 AP: For months, Hillary Rodham Clinton's Democratic rivals watched in frustration as she smoothly pivoted away from her 2002 Senate vote authorizing military action in Iraq. |
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