[bush]

Bush: Iran Intelligence Report is Warning Signal

By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 4, 2007; 1:12 PM

President Bush asserted today that Iran's nuclear program remains a danger to international security despite an assessment in a new U.S. intelligence report that the Tehran government stopped work four years ago on a suspected effort to build nuclear weapons.

In a White House news conference, Bush argued that Iran continues to develop the capability to enrich uranium and that this know-how ultimately could be transferred to a new clandestine weapons program.

"Look, Iran was dangerous," Bush said. "Iran is dangerous. And Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

In response to persistent questioning about the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a declassified summary of which was released yesterday, Bush emphasized the review's finding that Iran had a covert nuclear weapons program until 2003, when Tehran halted it under international scrutiny and pressure.

"What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program?" he asked. "I still feel strongly that Iran's a danger. Nothing's changed in this NIE that says, okay, why don't we just stop worrying about it. Quite the contrary."

Congressional Democrats called on Bush to abandon what they described as his overheated rhetoric on Iran and conduct a fresh review of U.S. policy toward that country with an emphasis on diplomacy.

The news conference, Bush's first in nearly seven weeks, was devoted largely to a defense of his credibility on Iran in view of the new intelligence estimate, which contradicted a 2005 assessment that Iran "is determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure."

Bush has repeatedly accused Iran of using a nuclear power program as cover for a secret scheme to build atomic bombs, and he warned as recently as Oct. 17 that allowing Iran to have such weapons would risk "World War III."

Asked if he were still convinced that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, Bush replied: "Here's what we know. We know that they're still trying to learn how to enrich uranium. We know that enriching uranium is an important step in a country whose desire it was to develop a weapon. We know they had a program. We know the program was halted."

ad_icon

If Iran "were to develop the knowledge that they could transfer to a clandestine program, it would create a danger for the world," he said. "And so, I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program. And . . . they could restart it."

Bush said the intelligence review "provides an opportunity for us to . . . continue to rally the community to pressure the Iranian regime to suspend its program." He said he was personally "working the phones," along with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to urge U.S. partners to keep up their efforts.

Pressed to explain the new intelligence estimate, Bush said he could not discuss "sources and methods." But he added, "I believe that the intelligence community has made a great discovery, and they've analyzed the discovery, and it's now part of our government policy."

He denied that he knew about the new assessment before his Oct. 17 remarks, saying he was briefed on the latest NIE only last week. He said the director of national intelligence, John M. McConnell, informed him in August that the intelligence community had "some new information" about Iran's program. "He didn't tell me what the information was. He did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze."

Bush also used the news conference to repeat his demands that congressional Democrats abandon efforts to tie funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to troop withdrawals from Iraq. He called on Congress to send him an emergency funding bill with no strings attached.

Bush said intelligence professionals are waiting for Congress to extend legislation set to expire in February that gives them the ability to "effectively monitor terrorist communications." He referred to the Protect America Act of 2007, which temporarily allows the wiretapping of communications that originate or end in a foreign country without a warrant issued by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court.

"Allowing the law to lapse would open gaps in our intelligence and increase the danger to our country," Bush said in opening remarks.

He also urged Congress to pass legislation that he said would "protect middle-class families from the burden of the alternative minimum tax." Without Congressional action, the parallel tax system, originally aimed at the super-rich, will affect millions more families this year, most of them upper middle class.

In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) denounced Bush's "heated rhetoric on Iran," including his comments raising the specter of World War III. He charged that the remarks "further diminish the credibility of a president with a dangerous record of overstating threats."

In light of the new intelligence report, Reid said, Bush should "announce a top-to-bottom review of his Iran policy and a diplomatic surge to advance U.S. interests with regard to Iran." He said the secretaries of state and defense should be "prepared to meet anytime, anywhere with their Iranian counterparts to conduct vigorous diplomacy to advance U.S. interests and address the challenges of Iran."

The United States needs to "ratchet up our diplomacy and continue working with the international community," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said in a separate statement. "But it's time for the president to look at the cold hard facts on Iran and walk back from the overheated rhetoric. The last thing America needs is to be misled into another war based on hype and trumped-up intelligence."

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) called Bush's news conference a "congressional finger-pointing session." While Bush "complains and blames," he said, "our troops are stuck in Iraq with no political strategy to aid them, our Iranian policy is without direction, the president refuses to sign a kid's health care bill while more Americans than ever lack health care coverage, and the economy skids into a recession while the president and his economic advisers choose to attack the Congress." Emanuel added, "The country needs cooperation and compromise from the president, not confrontation and complaints."

In addition to Iran, Bush was asked at today's news conference about Venezuelan voters' rejection of constitutional amendments championed by President Hugo Chavez, an ardent Bush critic who had sought to control the country's finances, appoint governors and run for reelection indefinitely. Domestic opponents had accused Chavez of seeking long-term, dictatorial powers; under the current constitution, he has five more years in office and cannot be reelected.

"The Venezuelan people rejected one-man rule," Bush said. "They voted for democracy."

He took the opportunity to call on Congress to approve a free trade agreement with Colombia, saying that "the biggest fear in South America" is not Chavez but the prospect of rejecting the trade accord, which he said would be "an insult to a friend."

Asked about a rape case in Saudi Arabia in which the victim faces punishment from a Saudi court, Bush said his first thought was "how would I react" if this had happened to one of his daughters.

"I would have been very emotional, of course," Bush said, searching for words. "I'd have been angry at those who committed the crime. And I would be angry at the state that didn't support the victim." He said the administration's views on the case were expressed by White House spokeswoman Dana Perino and that he did not remember "if that subject came up" during a recent telephone conversation he had with Saudi King Abdullah.

Pressed on why he would not discuss the matter directly with the king, Bush said, "He knows our position loud and clear."

Fucking pinhead. For once I actually agree with Harry Reid.