Congressional report on Iran’s N-programme alarmist, inaccurate

[TexasLawyer]

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Congressional report on Iran’s N-programme alarmist, inaccurate

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) has challenged a congressional report on Iran’s nuclear programme saying it contains the same types of mistakes in assessing Iran’s nuclear weapons programme as the intelligence made on Iraq’s nuclear weapons programme before the 2003 invasion.

“Such errors do little to advance the objective of curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and serve poorly the larger objective of establishing an accurate public record of Iran’s nuclear capabilities and intentions,” David Albright and Jacqueline Shire of ISIS said in a statement on Friday. They called on the House Intelligence Committee to consider withdrawing the staff report and issuing a revised version that accurately reflects the status of Iran’s nuclear programme, or at least issue it with corrections.

The report’s categorical assertion that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons is not supported by either the IAEA or the US intelligence. There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that Iran seeks a nuclear weapons capability, but none to support the conclusion that it is currently seeking a nuclear weapon, ISIS said.

<snip>

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C11%5C11%5Cstory_11-11-2006_pg7_49