New Iran nuke report

New Iran nuke report challenges White House

WASHINGTON: The US intelligence community said in a new report Monday that Iran halted its nuclear weapons drive in 2003 and that US charges about Tehran's atomic goals have been overblown for at least two years.

The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) raised fresh questions about the White House's battered credibility on a matter of war and peace five years after the US drive to invade Iraq based on dire, but false, warnings.

In recent months, US President George W. Bush raised the specters of "World War III" or a "nuclear holocaust" if Iran gets an atomic arsenal and wrongly claimed that Tehran had openly "proclaimed" its desire for one.

The NIE, the consensus view of all 16 US spy agencies, said it was unclear whether Iran sought nuclear arms and that halting its still-dormant program suggested greater susceptibility to global pressure than had been thought.

It also cautioned that the Islamic republic was keeping its nuclear options open, still bucked international demands to freeze uranium enrichment, and that Tehran could have the technical ability to make a nuclear weapon sometime between 2010 and 2015.

"But we do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," cautioned declassified findings of the estimate, which starkly contradicted a 2005 NIE's conclusions.

"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," it said, adding Iran appeared to have bowed to international pressure.

US national security adviser Stephen Hadley said, "There's going to be a tendency of a lot of people to say: 'The problem's less bad than we thought, let's relax,' our view is that would be a mistake."

"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure. And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution," he said.

But the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller, said that the estimate proved that "the Intelligence Community has learned its lessons from the Iraq debacle.

Senate Democratic Majority leader Harry Reid called on Bush to emulate former Republican president Ronald Reagan's dialogue with the Soviet Union, pushing for "a surge of diplomacy" with Tehran.

The NIE cited "high confidence" that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and "moderate confidence" that it had not restarted as of mid-2007.

"Our assessment that the program probably was halted primarily in response to international pressure suggests Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged previously," it said.

The report found that "the earliest possible date" Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon was late 2009, "but that this is very unlikely."

The NIE judged with "moderate confidence" that Iran would be able to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon "sometime during the 2010-2015 timeframe," with the US State Department saying not before 2013.

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Hi,
What about Emergency in Pakistan.

Thank you,
Regards,
Pakistan Boy,
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	pakistanboy wrote:
	What about Emergency in Pakistan.

Hello pakistanboy,
We already have alot of threads covering Emergency.Please post in the relevant section.

US is continually pumping its ally Countries, Nato and UN to put pressure on Iran.

I think Iran should step back at this stage.

Iran is showing off alot. This showoff of its Neuclear Programe will cost him alot!

Our well wishes are with Iran.

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This report shows that Bush administration does not care about the truth but just want to follow their pre-defined agenda. Or may be they can not tell the difference between right or wrong.

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	RAKhan wrote:
	This report shows that Bush administration does not care about the truth but just want to follow their pre-defined agenda. Or may be they can not tell the difference between right or wrong.

i also have similar view about Musharraf Administration.

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I am completely against the nuclear weapons and in my opinion no country should be allowed to have nuclear weapons . The use of nuclear energy for power and other positive aspects is the right of every country . They should be allowed to have nuclear power plants and other related stuff .

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