US intelligence shafts neocons posted by Richard Seymour

This is good news: American intelligence admits that Iran isn't trying to build a nuclear weapon, and it doesn't even know if there are plans to start trying. I'm not sure exactly why intelligence would undermine Bush in this way, but that is certainly what has happened. Possibly, this reflects divisions in the American state over how to deal with Iran. Of course, the administration has the chutzpah to claim that the report shows they were right all along and must continue their current policies, but they know it's a harder propaganda battle now. It's also important to recognise that this specifically undermines the virulently hawkish propaganda put out by Hillary Clinton in her campaign, an issue that has been costing her votes. Bear in mind, this woman actually accused the Bush administration of playing down the threat from Iran. You have to be far to the right to outflank the psychotics in the current US government, but she fucking managed it. Even with a report like this, the Bush administration's so-what attitude and the fact that it's time is running out suggests that there may after all be an airstrike - don't forget that the big casus belli, the one that is being prepared far more assiduously than the noocular threat is the claim that Iran is helping kill US soldiers in Iraq. And you can expect some preemptive strikes on Iran's human rights record (from the Bush administration, of all people) in preparation for any attack - not because it would make any attack literally comprehensible, but as an attempt to confuse and to some extent defuse opposition. If I were an Iranian, I would keep watching those skies.

Labels: iran, nuclear energy, US imperialism