NYT: Some in G.O.P. Say Iran Threat Is Played Down

[sabra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/24/washington/24intel.html?ei=5094&en=f985bca62045bd83&hp=&ex=1156392000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

Some in G.O.P. Say Iran Threat Is Played Down

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 — 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.

...

Some veterans of the intelligence battles that preceded the Iraq war see the debate as familiar and are critical of efforts to create hard links based on murky intelligence.

“It reflects a certain way of looking at the world — that all evil is traceable to the capitals of certain states,” said Paul R. Pillar, who until last October oversaw American intelligence assessments about the Middle East. “And that, in my view, is a very incorrect way of interpreting the security challenges we face.”

[maddezmom]

1. duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2472015