Iran's Nuke Program Halted in 2003

A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen, contradicting judgment two years ago that Tehran was working relentlessly toward building a nuclear bomb.

The conclusions of the new assessment are likely to reshape the final year of the Bush administration, which has made halting Iran’s nuclear program a cornerstone of its foreign policy.

The assessment, a National Intelligence Estimate that represents the consensus view of all 16 American spy agencies, states that Tehran is likely keeping its options open with respect to building a weapon, but that intelligence agencies “do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons.”

Iran is continuing to produce enriched uranium, a program that the Tehran government has said is designed for civilian purposes. The new estimate says that enrichment program could still provide Iran with enough raw material to produce a nuclear weapon sometime by the middle of next decade, a timetable essentially unchanged from previous estimates.

But the new estimate declares with “high confidence” that a military-run Iranian program intended to transform that raw material into a nuclear weapon has been shut down since 2003, and also says with high confidence that the halt “was directed primarily in response to increasing international scrutiny and pressure.”

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“So I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously.” [Bush, 10/17/07]

Senator Harry Reid: "Today this nation's senior intelligence analysts concluded that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, directly challenging some of this Administration's alarming rhetoric about the threat posed by Iran.

Keep reading here.

“Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions. … The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences.” [Cheney, 10/21/07]

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: While we should harbor no illusions about the intentions of some Iranian leaders, the new Iran NIE suggests there is time for a new policy toward Iran that deters it from restarting its nuclear program while also improving relations overall.

Keep reading here.

“The problem is Iran, and Iran has not stepped back from trying to pursue a nuclear weapon, and — or reprocessing and enriching uranium, which would lead to a nuclear weapon.” [White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, 10/26/07]

Senator Hillary Clinton: "The new declassified key judgments of the Iran NIE expose the latest effort by the Bush administration to distort intelligence to pursue its ideological ends.

Keep reading here.

“We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace.” [Bush, 11/7/07]

Senator John Edwards:"The new National Intelligence Estimate shows that George Bush and Dick Cheney's rush to war with Iran is, in fact, a rush to war.

Keep reading here.

“We’re in a position now, clearly, especially when we look at Iran, where it’s very, very important we succeed in our efforts, our national security efforts, to discourage the Iranians from enriching uranium and producing nuclear weapons.” [Cheney, 11/9/07]

Senator Chris Dodd: "The NIE on Iran contains some very important findings by the intelligence community. Taken together these findings make a strong case for pursuing robust diplomacy to resolve our differences with Iran and for an end to the reckless talk by the Administration and reckless votes by some members of Congress."

Keep reading here.

“We are convinced that they are developing nuclear weapons.” [Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, 11/13/07]

Chairman Silvestre Reyes: Today's National Intelligence Estimate on Iran reflects a remarkable shift in our Intelligence Community's assessment of Iran's nuclear capabilities and intentions.

Keep reading here.

Note to Sweaty Teddy - "Take a pill, dude"

Ted Nugent likes to talk tough and play with guns on stage. Things sure have changed since Vietnam. . .I wonder if he wipes his ass these days. On second thought, I really don't care to know. I mean, I've heard his concerts really stink, but. . .I just wrote it off to "has-been who doesn't know it yet" syndrome. . .

The "chicken seizure" sandwich

And they claim that liberals have the market cornered on conspiracy theories. . .Michael Savage is fucking insane:

Roberts' brain rejects his views

Chief Justice John Roberts suffered a seizure at his summer home in Maine on Monday, causing a fall that resulted in minor scrapes. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg stated that this was actually his second "episode" and was likely proof of his brain's rejection of conservatism.

He will remain in a hospital in Maine overnight. "It's my position that he's fully recovered, said Christopher Burke, a spokesman for the local Medical Center. "He suffered a similar incident in 1993. We thought he was merely channeling the Lord and speaking in tongues - OUR bad."

Experts have weighed in on this syndrome, CCD (Compassionate Conservative Disorder), calling it a serious threat to the well-being of right-wingers who deny their true feelings of compassion and tolerance.

"These individuals often wind up in the county jail, charged with heinous crimes" stated Professor Ron Joberts of Indiana University. "In other cases, they remain undetected and wind up being appointed to the Supreme Court by dry-drunks who commiserate with them. It's a vicious cycle of co-dependency that MUST be broken"!

Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour

From Max Blumenthal:

On July 16, I attended Christians United for Israel's annual Washington-Israel Summit. Founded by San Antonio-based megachurch pastor John Hagee, CUFI has added the grassroots muscle of the Christian right to the already potent Israel lobby. Hagee and his minions have forged close ties with the Bush White House and members of Congress from Sen. Joseph Lieberman to Sen. John McCain. In its call for a unilateral military attack on Iran and the expansion of Israeli territory, CUFI has found unwavering encouragement from traditional pro-Israel groups like AIPAC and elements of the Israeli government.

But CUFI has an ulterior agenda: its support for Israel derives from the belief of Hagee and his flock that Jesus will return to Jerusalem after the battle of Armageddon and cleanse the earth of evil. In the end, all the non-believers - Jews, Muslims, Hindus, mainline Christians, etc. - must convert or suffer the torture of eternal damnation. Over a dozen CUFI members eagerly revealed to me their excitement at the prospect of Armageddon occurring tomorrow. Among the rapture ready was Republican Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. None of this seemed to matter to Lieberman, who delivered a long sermon hailing Hagee as nothing less than a modern-day Moses. Lieberman went on to describe Hagee's flock as "even greater than the multitude Moses commanded."

Throughout CUFI's Israel Summit, videographer Thomas Shomaker and I were hounded by PR agents seeking to prevent us from interviewing attendees about the End Times. The conference, we were told, was about "one message" - evangelical Christians supporting Israel. We were instructed to only interview CUFI leaders capable of sticking to the talking point that their support for Israel has, as Hagee declared, "nothing to do with the End Times." But I was forbidden from asking Hagee about statements he made in his book, "Jerusalem Countdown," that appeared to blame Jews for their own persecution. After doing just that during a press conference, I was removed from the conference by off-duty DC cops summoned by members of Hagee's family.

I have covered the Christian right intensely for over four years. During this time, I attended dozens of Christian right conferences, regularly monitored movement publications and radio shows, and interviewed scores of its key leaders. I have never witnessed any spectacle as politically extreme, outrageous, or bizarre as the one Christians United for Israel produced last week in Washington. See for yourself:



Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour from huffpost and Vimeo.

Newtie's "revisionist history"

Newt Gingrich, that great revisionist historian and hypocritical adulterer, has just released a new "scary" video designed to fire up the anti-immigration crowd. In the video, available on his website and posted below for your perusal, Newtie claims that Mohammed Atta and the rest of the Saudi-Arabian terrorists from the 9/11 attack were in our country illegally.

The video begins with Gingrich saying, "Mohamed Atta, and several other 9/11 hijackers were in the United States illegally." Next, photos of Atta and the other 9/11 hijackers appear and the word "Illegally", printed in bold, red letters, flashes over the screen. "Today, more than five years since that tragic day, our borders remain open to gangs, drug dealers and terrorists," says Gingrich.




However, a check of the 9/11 Commission Report reveals that Atta entered the United States on a tourist visa and the U.S. subsequently approved him for a student visa on July 17, 2001 that was good through October 1, 2001.

"Atta was in the country legally on 9/11," confirmed Janice Kephart, a former counsel to the 9/11 Commission and co-author of the commission's report on 9/11 and Terrorist Travel to ABC News. "Atta was now legally in the United States until the day of the planned attack," reads the commission's report on 9/11 and terrorist travel on page 36.

In fact, all of the 19 men who hijacked planes on September 11th, including Atta, entered the United States on a tourist, or student visa, issued by the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. And Atta's visa status was widely reported in the media in 2002 when the INS famously sent a letter to Atta's Florida flight school, which was received on the sixth month anniversary of 9/11. The letter said the INS had approved a request to change Atta's status from a tourist visa to a student visa weeks before the attacks.

Citizens United, a conservative group lobbying against the immigration bill, paid for the ad and says they have purchased a "six-figure" media buy for the ad to appear on cable television. Do drop by and give them some "love". . .

Darth's surpise PSA visit

Darth Cheney paid a surprise trip to Baghdad today to deliver a tough message to the Iraqi government – "Get busy on signing the profit-sharing agreements we discussed! As soon as those are signed, you can take a permanent vacation for all that I care!"

The dark lord has been livid since discovering that Iraq’s fledgling parliament was planning to take a two-month summer recess, postponing work on a bill designed to steal Iraq's oil reserves while further enriching foreign oil companies, and leaving nothing but a sore and greasy situation for the nation and it's citizens.

"Look here, al Maliki, I've got Democrats in the woodwork at home, a 9% personal approval rating, and an American public that's ready to hang me from the nearest oil derrick. And you guys just voted to throw us all out of here as well!"

"Give me what I want and we'll go away" snarled Cheney after ordering staff to kick the press out of the room.

The new American ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, nervously told reporters that the vice president merely wanted some "alone time" to share some music with his Iraqi friend and convey American displeasure over the planned vacation. Here's a swiped security cam video of that meeting:



al Maliki's only comment after the rendezvous was that he had been offered a deal that he could not refuse, and was suffering from an earache.


Cheney was supposed to be in Abu Dhabi today for a photo op, according to his public schedule. Reporters had pressed Cheney staffers for days about whether he would go to Iraq on the current trip. The staffers never denied it outright, but didn’t tell the reporters accompanying Cheney until after Air Force Two had lifted off from Andrews Air Force Base. No reports as of yet of fare discounts for the unannounced detour, but the International Reporters Against Cheney group is considering action against the vice president. . .

Love Story

A delightful little love story - told in only three pictures:

Annual Terrorism Report Shows 29% Increase

In 2004, the State Department was forced to correct a first version of the ATR that BushCo had used to tout progress in it’s war on terror. The original had purposely undercounted the number of people killed in terrorist attacks in 2003, putting it at less than half of the actual number.

In 2005, the department was again accused of playing politics with the report when it decided to not even publish it after officials concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985.

Condoleezza Rice had actually considered postponing or downplaying the release of this year’s report once again, but decided to issue it by the congressionally mandated deadline of next Monday. No surprise that they wish to once again bury the facts that the 2006 ATR presents to the congress and the American people:

The report will show a nearly 30% increase over the 2005 numbers, from 11,111 in that year to 14,338 for 2006, with almost all of the boost due to growing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not quite the "winning the war against terror" picture that they like to tout pretty much whenever their mouthes open. . .

In fact, after this year’s report was already largely completed and approved, Rice and her aides called for further reviews, in an attempt to avoid repeating embarrassing missteps of recent years in the report’s release. The review process is being led by Deputy Secretary of State John "Death Squad" Negroponte, coming soon to a killing field near you. I'm curious as to why these neo-cons from the 70's and 80's keep turning up like bad pennies. . .are there so few of them that they are forced to recycle themselves? Alas, that is another post for another day, but I AM most curious!

Da Shrub and his posse routinely call Iraq the “central front” in "the war on terrorism" and will, of course, claim that the preponderance of attacks there and in Afghanistan prove their point. The only problem with their claim is the fact that Iraq was a sponsor of no terror other than that directed internally by Saddam Hussein. The latest data shows that Iraq 's share of the WORLD numbers above equate to roughly 45% on the ENTIRE terrorist attacks IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! I never thought I'd ever miss W's daddy. . .other than a couple of unfortunate slip-ups, he always knew when to pull out. . .

Shrub and Shooter's claims that al-Qaida terrorists were in Iraq and allied with Saddam Hussein before the invasion has been disproved time and time again. As recently as last
September, the Senate Intelligence Committee reported their findings that Saddam rejected pleas for assistance from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and had even tried to capture Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose presence in Iraq was often used by Shooter as proof of ties between the two.

“Postwar findings indicate that Saddam Hussein was distrustful of al-Qaida and viewed Islamic extremists as a threat to his regime, refusing all requests from al-Qaida to provide material or operational support,” the Senate report said. Whaddaya know. . .we had a common enemy, we killed Saddam, now al-Quaida IS in Iraq and running rampant against our soldiers. We took a country that was unfriendly to terrorists, killed it's tyrant leader who opposed said terrorists, and sent thousands of our soldiers into the region to fight with friends (Shia or Sunni?) who look exactly like the foes (to our western eyes anyway), against "insurgents" who are basically patriots fighting a foreign occupation of their sovereign lands. It's like throwing out a god-damned buffet for the terrorists!

When I think of all the wasted money, the wasted lives of both American soldiers and Iraqis, the hatred that these neo-fascist bastards have caused to be directed towards America (and rightly so), I am ashamed. I hope that the will and spirit of the great experiment that we call America will prevail as it did last November, and restore us to at least a trustworthy ally if not the shining beacon of hope that we were before this buffoon and his cadre embarked upon their own personal mission of capitalism gone horribly awry. That is what I hope to dream about tonight. . .Good night and sweet dreams for all Americans, and those want to be, once more, a part of our circle of friends.

Strange But True

Many will recall that on July 8, 1947, witnesses claimed that an unidentified object with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico.


This is a well-known incident that many say has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and the federal government.



However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of March 1948, exactly nine months after that historic day, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Condolezza Rice, and Dan Quayle were all born.





See what happens when aliens breed with sheep.




This piece of information clears up a lot of things. . .

Shooting Crow

This is Sheryl Crow:



Sheryl Crow cares about this:



She's trying to prevent this :



Which is pretty ironic, since she's a:



This is Karl ;he asked Sheryl to NOT touch him:



This is Tim. Tim also doesn't want Sheryl touching him.



Maybe Karl and Tim need one of these:



A "Hill" inspired post

Diplomacy works

Despite BushCo's repeated attempts to get Iran to give him a reason to attack them, Iran refuses to take the bait. Perhaps "I'm Mad in the Head" is the smarter of the two after all. . .

A.U. students "welcome" Karl Rove

Karl Rove assumed that he was in safe territory on Tuesday Night. The architect of all that we have endured for the last six years was at American University speaking to the school's chapter of the Young Republicans Intolerant Rich White Kid's Club. Safe territory indeed until it came time to bid adeiux for the evening. Upon exiting the building, and attempting to leave the campus in his vehicle, he was set upon by students who represented a more accurate segment of America today.

The students surrounded Rove's vehicle in an attempt to perform a citizen's arrest, for tyranny I can only assume. . .some students laid down in front of his vehicle, while others pelted it with rocks and other projectiles. Here's a very grainy cell-phone video of the event:



The university stated today that "students were given a designated area to protest and they violated that agreement." No charges have been made at this time, against Turd Blossom or the promising young activists.

Please Impeach Me

And, soon to be a classic - "Poking the Bear"! A hilarious take on Rush Limpball's statement that "Lib's are poking the bear with this Valerie Plame business". . .

Max Cleland: "Where were YOU"?

Max Cleland bitchslaps Cheney and Bush:

Gen. Eaton: 'GOP Worst Thing To Happen To U.S. Military'

Armageddon on your mind

The Liberal Media

Click image to enlarge

Any questions?

U.S. Funds Being Funneled To Al Qaeda

New Yorker columnist Sy Hersh says the “single most explosive” element of his latest article involves an effort by the Bush administration to stem the growth of Shiite influence in the Middle East (specifically the Iranian government and Hezbollah in Lebanon) by funding violent Sunni groups.

Hersh says the U.S. has been “pumping money, a great deal of money, without congressional authority, without any congressional oversight” for covert operations in the Middle East where it wants to “stop the Shiite spread or the Shiite influence.” Hersh says these funds have ended up in the hands of “three Sunni jihadist groups” who are “connected to al Qaeda” but “want to take on Hezbollah.”

Hersh summed up his scoop in stark terms: “We are simply in a situation where this president is really taking his notion of executive privilege to the absolute limit here, running covert operations, using money that was not authorized by Congress, supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11.” Watch it:

FOX attacks Obama

Fox is not a credible news outlet and needs to be stopped. Foxattacks.com will give you the information and tools you need to hit fox where it hurts. The current video presents the erroneous and slanted stories Fox recently ran about Barack Obama. In response, Obama refused to appear on Fox. Watch the video, then follow Obama's lead and... Do Something.