The oligarchy which rules the US from behind the scenes, the national security, espionage and defense apparatus plus important businessmen have spent the last year reining in their errant son and his lunatic neo-con entourage.  In the words of Admiral Fallon, “We’re putting the crazies back in their boxes.” This NIE is just the latest move to that end, but very important because it is public.  The oligarchy wants to rule the new world order, not blow up the world.  I think we’ve dodged this apocalypse, but it was a close thing for awhile.

Attacking Iran wasn’t and isn’t in the interest of the United States and its citizens.  So, whatever reasons those advocating an attack on Iran really have, they have nothing to do with the well being of Americans. 

Notice btw, that oil prices fell below 90 dollars per barrel on the news that Iran isn’t pursuing a Nuke weapon and thus it appears less likely that the Neocons inside the American government will be able to get the US to attack Iran.  The fact that the dollar price of oil fell in the teeth of rumors of a 50 to 75 basis point drop in the Fed rate indicates that a good deal of the run up in the dollar price of oil had to do with the widespread belief that the Neocons would get Bush to attack Iran. 
So Americans have been paying a premium at the pump because the Neocons want to threaten Iran with a potential American military strike.

I think the release of the NIE to the public at this time was done to give Bush/Cheney/neocon cabal a “facesaving” way to back out of the corner they had got themselves in over Iran.
Consider: they had threatened Iran with military attack if Iran refused to bow down and let Israel continue ethnic cleansing and genocide. They seem to have realized now that this was not going to happen. In addition China and Russia seem to have had enough and drawn the line on Iran too. The military told them it was in no position to attack Iran. Saner “strategists” available to them have long been saying: you can start this but it won’t necessarily end the way you hope. (Recall Lebanon last year). The collapsing dollar and skyrocketing oil prices and the state of the economy may have given some of them pause.
So for the moment they seem to be signaling Iran that they are willing to try a different tack. But lets not get complacent. The military Industrial Zionist Allaince may be down but it is not going away. Unless we can engineer a Ron Paul type revolution and try the neocons as fifth columnists, they will be back sooner then we might imagine!

BTw, it seems to me that they had to lower the temperature with Iran if the Bantustan deal being foisted on the Palestinians is to have any chance in hell. The only hope to get Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria to go along is if Iran plays along…
There are wheels within wheels within wheels....

Let’s hope common sense and sanity is making a comeback in American government, and that this outbreak of reason, is not the aberration.

“Their joint resignation or impeachment is long overdue.”

They should have all respectfully resigned on Sept 12th, 2001 for their inability to effectively defend the United States.

To me it looks like Bush & Cheney have given up on the U.S. military going along with smiting another of Israel’s enemies. There is too much resistance in the military this time against putting their men through another pointless meatgrinder.  In the run-up to the Iraq war, Bush & Cheney pooh-poohed any intelligence that didn’t fit into their designs for war, but in Bush’s press conference yesterday, he proclaimed that this “new” intelligence regarding Iran’s nuclear program was good, and he thanked the intelligence community for its fine work.  It was a message not just to the neocons, but to their favorite country (Israel), that “bomb’s away” is not feasible at present.  The Likudniks and the neocons will have to invest their hopes in the election of Giuliani or McCain - or even Hillary might do it for them.  Meanwhile, Israel is not so sure about the latest intelligence report.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546799748&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

The Neocons’ successful manuevers to get America
to fight on behalf of a foreign power and to sacrifice
its own lives, wealth and reputation is unprecedented
in US history. Europe, on the other hand, much hated
by the Neocons, has centuries of experience with their
techniques, knows the tricks. Hopefully, this current
experience through its very shock value will help the
US political establishment learn the same lessons and
keep the Lobby in line.

I fear we are misreading what the RELEASE of the NIE signifies when we think it is a case of analysts sticking to their guns or “realists” prevailing. It is nothing of the sort.
The reason why the NIE has been released by the U.S. REGIME is to provide a “facesaving” way to make a policy shift.
Realising that war with Iran FOR THE MOMENT poses unpredictable threats to the empire and Israel, given the state of the military and the economy that is hurtling towards far worse than the great depression, and given the implaccable opposition from Russia and China, and Iran’s hardening stance: There is a need for a POLICY change.
Therefore the NIE has been released so that a conducive atmoshere may be created to make peace with the arabs so that Israel can be secured. Note Olmert comment last week that if this peace deal fails Israel is “finished”.
Given that Pakistan will soon be distancing itself from the U.S. (to avert an impending insurency turning into civil war), there is no choice but to declare victory and head home. Afghanistan is falling back into the hands of the Taliban and the U.S. army is making pacts with Rumsfeld’s “deadenders” to enable it to declare victory and retreat.
Tomorrow if the situation changes there will be a new NIE to justify a nuclear attack on Iran.
Understand! or is it Sabes todo Intiendez Nada!

Of course, it’s a policy change and also a triumph for the realists.  And yes the situation could change again, but it is difficult to imagine a situation where a nuclear attack on Iran would be beneficial to its perpetrators.  It’s one thing for supreme power in the world to be wielded by criminals, a much worse thing for it to be wielded by the criminally insane.

I would opt for calling a neocon inspired regime “criminally insane” but let’s not give them that particular ground to plead not guilty just yet!
Its important to elect people who will bring them to trial first.

Absolutely on Target!...........One Word......IMPEACHMENT!

To quote the late Rod Serling, “For your consideration:”

The amateur/lunatic Bush 43 administration runs smack-dab into the reality that it will not be able--politically, economically, militarily or otherwise--to perpetrate its desired apocalypse upon Iran.  Whatever shall the Bushies do to save face?

Answer: Wring, spin or otherwise co-opt the current NIE (who among us mere mortals really can know how politically compromisable or pliable these things are?) to provide cover for backing down.  Then--to provide further cover--carp, kvetch and otherwise bloviate against the very thing that gives you political cover.

Just a thought.

P.S. My apologies and recognition to “Al” for making a point very close to my own prior to my post, just above.  I did not read Al’s input before I made my own comment, but I am honored to be in sync with his fellow “great mind.”

That said, I am also grateful--along with my brother et al.--that we have dodged a very high-calibre geo-political bullet for the nonce.

Thank You Mark Higdon for your kind words.
There were many other more graceful ways to do a change of policy: He could have pulled a Sadat “change of Heart”, or just gone silent for a while, but having kept the company of the neocon hyenas for so long doing anything gracefully is strictly not Kosher.
Lets hope someone like Ron Paul gets a chance to redeem what we can…

Cheney confirms Policy Shift: drops all talk of defending Israel and “all options are on the table”, and “Iran should know there will be consequences”
He’s saying now we will try to “pursuade” Iran on enrichment. He also confirmed that the NIE was released as a conscious decision of the regime.
He further signaled Iran that the U.S. is planning to be out of Iraq by the end of 2008. (see Politico interview).

Meanwhile the white House confessed that Bush knew of the NIE atleast as early as
august. That explains his freudian slip in October when he threatened the world with a III war if Iran had so much as “knowledge” of nuclear technology. Note he did not use the words: nuclear “program”.
It seems that Bush’s speech writers have not got their instructions straight from Cheney as Bush still seems delusional in thinking the any country in the world is now going to tolerate further talk of sanctions and isolation. Truly it is the U.S. and Israel that find themselves totally isolated. This has been handled very badly, with further loss of credibility for the regime.
Meanwhile the media is going full stem keeping the U.S. public ignorant about what is really going on by making this about the NIE and not about what it really is: the abandoment of the Neocon Plan to make war on Iran and Syria and Pakistan while ethnic cleansing Palestine to consolidate the aprthied Zionist regime. (see Kirt Higdon and my posts above)
The question now is: Is the U.S. regime criminally insane (John Bolton/Podhoretz) or is it insanely criminal (Bush/Cheney)?
P.S. this has been a great lesson in how the U.S. media deceives the hapless public about what is really going on!

Correction: apologies to Mr. Higdon, it should read Mark not Kirt.

I don’t think any of us are in basic disagreement on this.  The ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians would probably proceed even more quickly were there a general war, but after the Lebanon war of ‘06, Olmert couldn’t take the chance of too much damage to Israel.  Hezbollah rocket salvos chased 300,000 people out of northern Israel and pretty much brought economic life there to a halt.  The IDF is apparently on the verge of a big Gaza operation now, but Hamas too may prove to be a tough nut to crack.  As always, innocent civilians will suffer the most.

I feel that one of the key reasons for the policy change may have been the Israeli government pursuading Bush Cheney that they had no stomach for further wars at this time.
lets not forget that the neocons and their allais in Israel are seen a a lunatic fringe element even in the zionist state and do not reflect the mainstream Israeli opinion which has long been hoping for an end to the endless wars they have to endure.
As far as Gaza is concerned I don’t think Israel has the stomach for any invasions as this only further enrages the people. By doing so they risk turning Hamas into a Hezbollah over time.
I think Olmert and Livni and others in Israel do realize that time is against them and they have to do whatever to be able to hide behind their wall and eat the shit that they have been cooking for 60 years.

Did Iran ever have a nuclear weapons program??
Personally I don’t believe it was ever an objective of the Iranian government.
If they had seriously wanted nuclear weapons they could have had dozens by the end of the 90’s.
Consider: Pakistan decided to get them in 1974 and had a few by 1983, and had them on aircraft by 1990.
Throughout the 90’s pakistan would have happily given any help Iran need to lay their hands on such technologies.
I believe the U.S. has full knowledge that the Iranians turned down Pakistani offers to help them along in the 90’s.
Further they could have accessed such technologies from the Russians or the Chinese or the Koreans etc etc..
There is no Iranian equivalent of A.Q. Khan. The circumstantial evidence does not exist.
Where the Iranians wanted something (missile technology, or building their own fighters) they have shown they are capable of achieving their goals quite well.
I believe the NIE assertion that Iran had a program prior to 2003 is nothing more than a figleaf to permit the Goebbels in the regime to keep blackmailing Iran and perpetuate the big lie.

What you’re saying, Al, makes perfect sense.  Moreover, by saying the program ended in 2003, Cardinal Dickelieu (aka Dick Cheney) can assert that the Iraq War, which would you believe also began in 2003, terrified Iran into scuttling their nuclear weapons program.  Just another reason why the war was a success. Should lead to a decline in the price of oil (from $99) as well.  And the MSM, no stranger to “big lies,” will play right along.  Nice campaign pitch for the Republicans, to go along with a partial withdrawal of troops from Iraq in 2008.  Oh, that tricky Cardinal Dickelieu!  His Èminence Grise no sooner pulls one trick out of his hat than he pulls another out of his surplice of tricks.

Thank You Mr. FoSQuare.
A couple of footnotes:
1. The FATWA from the supreme religious authorities in Iran stating that nuclear weapons are “unIslamic” because of the harm they do to civilians has profound implications in a country run by sharia law such as Iran. It means that any muslim Iranian working on technologies related to a nuclear weapons program is in violation of the FATWA and therefore punishable under sharia law.
The Iranian religious authorities pronounced this FATWA as a guidance to their own people, and not as a diplomatic or political or disinformation ploy. Unless one takes the position that they are hypocrites using Islam to deceive the west and all 70 million Iranians are part of the conspiracy its very hard to believe that the FATWA and a nuclear weapons program can coexist in Iran.
2. Why is common sense so uncommon?

In 2 of my earlier posts I had speculated that the release of the NIE motivated by the Cheney/Bush neocon regime as a “facesaving” way to engineer a change in a policy that was going nowhere.
It appears now I was wrong!
The truth seems more dramatic.
It appears that what we are witnessing is a policy coup by the “intelligence agencies” and the military who appear to be presenting the white house with a fait accompli. Its a counter-coup taking the white house back from the neocon cabal that hijacked the place in 2001.
Wow!
I guess the vice president and the “president” released this NIE to avoid a potential leak which would have been far more embarrasing exposure of their deceit and possibly impeachable. (Fat chance of that while Neocon slave Pelosi is holding the gavel).
The neocons and the likudniks are running around like a bunch of chickenhawks with their heads cut off being chased by really pissed of chiwawas!
What a shame and a missed opportunity for Israel as one more chance to work out a deal with Iran seems to be beyond their stunted brains ability to visualize.
Still it creates the potential for independent U.S action vis a vis Iran. I doubt anything will come of it while the current group of clowns is around.

Future generations will say when commenting on the power and control the Neocons have on the U.S. Mideast foreign policy “Never in American history did so few do so much harm to so many.” Steve, USN, WW2

it doesn’t require a rocket scientist to predict that given the
path they have chosen (that of waging war without end), team Bush, Cheney and
the neocons would soon reach a dead end.

The human feces anal sex product lying murderer has been caught in yet another global patholigical lie and has to make some lamebrain excuse to continue to appear to be on course as pathetically weak as it is to cover lies with lies that have been covered with other lies as they pile up truly giving merit to the ole saying of oh what a web we weave when at first we choose to decieve.

Bush is proving beyond a doubt that he was the original immaculate conception not the one of myth 2000 yrs ago and not only that he was concieved when mr mommy used her 12 incher on ms wimp daddys anal cavity over 61 yrs ago that in effect saw her sperm and his turd combine to by magic to fart out Dubya 9 mo laters as the original 100% human 100% feces creation and the world has been in grave danger ever since.

Fake Fake Fake ... Lies Lies Lies ...

This release of NIE intelligence may be good news for Iran but it may well signal the need by the neocons for another “terrorist attack” on the U.S. The Republicans face a near certain defeat at the polls in 2008 unless something is done, like the Pearl Harbor I & II attacks, to persuade voters that they must rally to support the prez and his sick administration in another war on somebody. With millions of illegal aliens posed to vote for Democrats in the next general election and support among members of the religious right waning, the Republicans are dead in the water unless they choose Ron Paul as their standard bearer next November.

Reverse Psychology.

In a brilliant stroke of public relations, the administration
releases an NIE that apparently contradicts their policy positions.

Meanwhile, watch for a new series of “special reports” on the Iranian
nuclear programs, replete with ‘Digital Globe” imagery of their
production facilites from Fox, CNN et. al. designed to shake up
the electorate and make the pending agression “their decision”

Perhaps the admin has recognized the value of sell-not-tell!

@ Mike Mann:

Do everyone a favor and remove yourself from this forum.  You are a disgusting pig; though my insult to the swine population was unintended. 

Begone - your stench is unbearable; and upon your unhappy end may you be allowed a fleeting glance into the eyes of the Immaculate Conception (the “myth”) as she crushes the head of the serpent with her heel - with you wrapped in its coils - just before you and the Father of Lies are flung into the deepest recesses of hell where the worm dieth not.  Those who insult the Mother of God, and in your case, with such filthy blasphemy that even Satan cowers in fear (even Satan dares not blaspheme against our Lady), shall enjoy a most particularly excruciating form of eternal punishment - have a pleasant eternity.

By the way, when are we going to talk of 300 nukes, somewhere hiding in the middle east!  Of course, not in Israel according Fox and others. 

It seems, that most of the congressmen and senators are taking oath in the U.S. coto defend Israel not America. That is fact.

Tom