Forget WMD. What's an NIE?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14495-2003Jul19.html

The report for the president was chilling.

"We believe that Iraq has intensified its efforts in recent years to develop technologies that could support a nuclear weapons program," said the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), citing reports about "the existence of secret nuclear projects at Tuwaitha and elsewhere." The NIE, encapsulating the government's best intelligence, also raised the alarm about chemical weapons. "In our judgment, the Iraqis highly value the effectiveness of chemical weapons against massed infantry. . . ."

The date of the NIE: Dec. 1, 1988.

Fourteen years later, in October 2002, another NIE on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction helped prod the United States to war. But whereas the 1988 report has been partially declassified and posted on the CIA Web site, the more recent one remains largely secret. On Friday, the White House released a small portion of the 2002 NIE as it sought to show that President Bush did not present a misleading picture of Iraq's weapons capability in his January State of the Union address. Critics have said Bush should not have charged that Iraq, in an effort to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program, sought to buy uranium oxide from an African nation when the NIE had left doubt about that allegation.

What exactly is a National Intelligence Estimate? How are dissenting opinions expressed? And should the president be expected to read the NIEs himself, rather than receive summaries from his top aides?

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[Guaranteed]

1. He's just misleading again....

by releasing PART of the NIE. His methods sure are consistent, aren't they?

[I AM SPARTACUS]

2. doesn't matter what alaphabet soup you conjure - there's NO WMDs...

so...call it COD, XTC, or LOL if ya wanna, but these NIE reports are either so FAKE or so WRONG as to be pathetic...

WHERE'S THE WMDs...??? WHERE'S THE WMDs...??? WHERE'S THE WMDs...??? WHERE'S THE WMDs...??? WHERE'S THE WMDs...??? WHERE'S THE WMDs...???

[sandnsea]

3. Here's a 1998 report online

Click on it, see how strenuous you think it is.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun1998.html

[0rganism]

4. NIE = Need Improved Excuses

Even if it doesn't stick to the perp, watching bush squirm on the stand for his high crimes is somewhat gratifying.

[Gin]

5. Who would have thought that a shrub would become a weapon of

mass destruction. I thought we had analysts that compiled the information...but not a seperate entity...maybe its a code word for
PNAC...or Chalabi.

[PATRICK]

6. more looped reasoning

Well here are the judgments the WH wanted. The proof is still missing and it's still guesswork with prejudice but again it is waving around some kind of nebulous "trust" in place of evidence.

The whole idea is to get the arguers right back where they started until they get dizzy or give up. Not hard to do with the press.

A lot of papers still slant this the WH way, too bad it is so shabby. As I noticed in 2001 when Bush's luster wore off, the WH let Bush drop off the front pages rather than let people get impressed with the bad stuff. So they will desperately try to get this off the front page. Yet each lying stupid defense and new revelation puts it foot in mouth forward again. And the economy is bad news underlying all. Individual papers detailing the newly dead and dying are putting the real faces on the issue for the locals.

[Patriot_Spear]

7. An NIE...

National Intelligence Estimate

A lengthy, full scope brief for the president on a particular area of concern.

It is an academic work combinging the experts in that field to give their 'best guess' on the direction of the Intelligence. They are normally very well researched and always contain some sort of caveat on the reliability of the information and the confidence level of the reports conclusions.

Most presidents only read a one or two page distillation; it is the responsibility of the Nat'l Security Advisor to read the entire report and complie the summary.

There is no dissenting opinion; the report is based on consensus, not conflict.

No NIE has ever been used to justify a war- so you would think that in this special circumstance whoever the president is- he would have read the report entirely.

Edit:Typo

[I AM SPARTACUS]

8. "he would have read the report entirely"...perhaps if he could

unfortunately, I don't believe that the Resident can, couldn't comprehend it if he could, and is disinclined to even try...

[Paragon]

9. NIE!