Updated: More neocon bullshit about Iran …

Posted by Joshua Holland at 9:45 AM on August 24, 2006.

In Peek, Lindsay links approvingly to a Congressional report that says the intelligence community, as she put it, doesn't "know shit about Iran."

But let's be clear what this is. It's a report that reflects the views of the same nut jobs who told us we'd face mushroom clouds over American cities if we didn't attack Iraq. They're priming the pump for Iran as the Next Imminent Threat. Their problem is that the intelligence community has weighed in with the disappointing news that Iran is at least five, and possibly ten years from a nuclear weapon (if they're building one at all). That's not very imminent, and certainly won't help scare the Bejesus out of voters in time for the mid-term elections in November.

So what the Repubs on the House Intelligence Committee are really saying is: "the CIA doesn't know shit about Iran, but Bill Kristol, Michael Ledeen and Dick Cheney's staff do."

New York Times:

Some senior Bush administration officials and top Republican lawmakers are voicing anger that American spy agencies have not issued more ominous warnings about the threats that they say Iran presents to the United States.

Some policy makers have accused intelligence agencies of playing down Iran's role in Hezbollah's recent attacks against Israel and overestimating the time it would take for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

The complaints, expressed privately in recent weeks, surfaced in a Congressional report about Iran released Wednesday. They echo the tensions that divided the administration and the Central Intelligence Agency during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

The criticisms reflect the views of some officials inside the White House and the Pentagon who advocated going to war with Iraq and now are pressing for confronting Iran directly over its nuclear program and ties to terrorism, say officials with knowledge of the debate…

The new report, from the House Intelligence Committee, led by Representative Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, portrayed Iran as a growing threat and criticized American spy agencies for cautious assessments about Iran's weapons programs.

Mathew Iglesias adds:

Thanks to a reader's observation, I find myself reading the House Intel report (PDF) on Iran and wondering why the missile range graphic shows the missiles being fired from Kuwait rather than, say, Iran. Note also that the outer circles describes [sic] the range of a missile that doesn't exist.

So maybe Iran has somehow invaded Kuwait, and the intelligence agencies haven't yet caught on?

We should believe nothing these people say about anything. Ever. It's really that simple.

Update: Read this post by Michael Brendan Dougherty, with a hat-tip to reader Lamar.

Joshua Holland is a staff writer at Alternet and a regular contributor to The Gadflyer.