CIA chief: I personally believe Iran is seeking nukes

[lovuian]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1206632370117&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

CIA director General Michael Hayden said on Sunday he believed that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.

In an interview to NBC's 'Meet the Press,' Hayden said the CIA stood by November's National Intelligence Estimate, which assessed that Teheran halted its nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003.

"We stand by the judgment," he said, but added that the report "unfortunately, tends to get oversimplified in public discourse." For instance, he said, "another part of the report that we emphasized is that program that stopped in 2003. It was they were weaponizing, building the actual device. It remains a program that the Iranians continue to deny ever existed. And the other aspects of the Iranian nuclear effort beyond the weaponization - the development of fissile material, the development of delivery systems - all continue apace."

Asked whether he believed Iranians were trying to develop a nuclear weapons program, Hayden replied: "Personal belief? Yes."
more...

Meet the Press talks about it today... talk about the media machine

[bemildred]

1. I personally believe he is a lickspittle sycophant. nt

[cliffordu]

3. LOL

lickspittle sycophant.

:rofl:

[cutlassmama]

40. Pretty much, nail on the head there.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. I personally believe Hayden will benefit financially by his assertion. n/t

[MadMaddie]

4. Michael Hayden also made a statement that he doesn't ask

other agencies for information because he just hasn't. (I came in on the end of his statement) What the hell?

Hayden is horrible in this role - this guy cannot be trusted. What do we know about Hayden and why his qualified for this role.

All of them are lazy and incompetent.

[Zorro]

14. Lazy and incompetent?

I don't think so. One doesn't rise to his rank in the military by being lazy and incompetent.

Whether you trust him or not, he stated his opinion. I would suggest that he has reasons for his belief, whether it's to promote an agenda or his suspicions on Iranian activity.

There's plenty of information about why he is qualified for this role. There's this search engine called Google, in case you haven't heard of it.

[MadMaddie]

18. Oh Zorro...did you really have to go there?

There were many qualified people that could have filled the role, their only disqualifier was they would not carry the water for this administration.

But wait...if this is your argument then that means that every position of importance that this administration has made is because the chosen people were all qualified?

Hey let me start the list..

Brownie,
Condie
Rumsfeld
Cheney
All appointees made to rebuild the Iraq government - no where to be found these days, because that is going so well.)

Please save the bullshit for the jackboot followers of the neo-con right.

Even if we gave Hayden the benefit of the doubt (which I don't)he reports all of the Neocon talking points, no new message no new plan. Walk on by folks...nothing new to see here...

[Zorro]

36. Google is your friend

So you can easily find out Hayden was appointed to a couple of very significant positions in the Clinton administration prior to his new role. Not all appointments are created equal.

I am not about to defend this administration's roster of idiots, but not every appointment made is given to someone incompetent or lazy, which is a characterization I disagree with.

I reassert that Hayden is well qualified for the position, unlike his predecessor Porter Goss, my former congressman and a water-carrying boob.

[Juche]

5. I personally believe PNAC wants a hypocritical excuse to invade

If they care about nukes, why is the Sibel Edmonds story suppressed?

[Selatius]

6. My view: If they are trying to build atom bombs, so what?

Perhaps if Iran and Israel have nuclear weapons, both countries will be less likely to take foolish risks out of fear of mutually assured destruction. If the US and the USSR could exist without wiping out the planet, perhaps Israel and Iran can exist as well.

[L. Coyote]

21. A five year occupation of their neighbor.

The USA certainly continues to give them good reason to want nukes.

[lovuian]

7. Notice DUERS that now its nuclear weapons not WMD

Weapons of Mass Destruction

we have been through the same playbook

[Juche]

11. They already have WMD

If you count chemical, biological and ICBMs as WMD they already have them. But so do most countries in the region.

http://cns.miis.edu/research/wmdme/iran.htm

[shanti]

8. here we go again!

:banghead:

[quadriga]

9. LIAR!

[babylonsister]

10. Where's the latest NIE? Why hasn't it been released? Then we'll talk. nt

[Juche]

12. Cheney is rewriting it

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39978

[HuffleClaw]

13. *snicker* he hasn't the balls to NOT waffle about his 'convictions'

damn, is that funny

[malaise]

15. Here we go

afuckinggain. More lies, more spin more war crimes.

[LiberalFighter]

16. How does he know? Could it be that he is offering nukes to Iran?

[Octafish]

17. Gee. Admiral Fallon says, 'No war with Iran' and he gets the shaft.

Gen. Hayden says, "Iran is looking for nukes" and they give him air time.

GE brings big things to death.

[margotb822]

19. Why would he have any reason to personally believe that?!

He's the head of the f-ing CIA. He gets the intel. They don't call it a national OPINION estimate, it's an intelligence estimate. We pay people to find out the truth, and even when the deck is stacked with Bushies, they can't tell his cronies what they want to hear. Christ all mighty, let it go!!

[defendandprotect]

20. Good . . . why don't we send him to IRAQ and let him stay there 'til he finds the WMD .. . ???

[margotb822]

22. This just prompted me to write a letter to the editor

I am so pissed about this, I just wrote the following to the WaPo:

We all know that this administration has an agenda. The recently released Department of Defense study not linking Iraq and 9/11 has made perfectly clear that war is the lifeblood of the current administration. War at all costs. And, while the war in Iraq is the current battle ground of this election year, I believe that we need to watch what is being said about Iran. We are being set up, and we need to confront these lies before they drag us, and the next president, into another costly war. In December 2007, a National Intelligence Estimate was release that said Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, yet we have been bombarded by administration officials who continue to say otherwise.

On "Meet The Press" this Sunday, the Director of the CIA said that he personally believed that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons. He acknowledged the NIE released in December 2007, but he immediately launched into a disqualification of the report, the intelligence, and Iran. And, Hayden isn't the first official to make these same remarks. Last week, Cheney said that Iran may be seeking nuclear weapons. Of course, he could have also said "probably not" or "we have no evidence of," but instead he continue to push his party's agenda of constant, costly war. And, just days after the NIE was released, Bush said "the NIE doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world." And who could forget Republican presidential candidate John McCain singing "Bomb Iran" during a campaign stump? I've tried, but I can't.

So, let me get this straight, even though 16 US Intelligence agencies concur that Iran is not working to produce a nuclear weapon and has not been working on acquiring a nuclear weapon for more than four years, the Bush administration continues to try and sell us another war based on false evidence? Even though the Intelligence agencies are stacked with Bush supporters, even they couldn't tell him what he so desperately wanted to hear? Even though the evidence is right in front of him, he can casually brush it aside for his "feelings"? No. I will not accept this. I will not accept more lies, and more officials who push the party line over truth. I will not accept a candidate who sings and dances to sell death and destruction. Now is the time for every American to demand that our leadership respect the truth of the world we live in: It may be dangerous, but picking fights won't make anyone safer. The officials who continue to lie to the people about Iran should be ashamed by the way they throw our credibility into the wind. I will not go to war based on their feelings, and neither should any other American.

[Hippo_Tron]

23. Is it his gut feeling that they will just turn these weapons over to Hezbollah?

At which point Israel will wipe them off the face of the earth? I'll entertain that as a possibility but not a very serious one. Like all other politicians, the people that run Iran's government are interested in power. They aren't interested in suicide.

[Turner Ashby]

24. Great Letter, Margot. I hope it gets printed.

How much are we spending on the intelligence agencies? It is apparently money wasted, since all we really need are "feelings", like some bad 70s song. But, then of course, we do have Fighting Joe Lieberman (except of course, when he could have actually fought in Vietnam) who brings up Iran in the context of killing hundreds of American soldiers, who were killed by the Iranians by sleight of hand (the Iraqis being unwitting dupes apparently).

[Disturbed]

25. Why is he still wearing his uniform?

Is he still getting paid by the AF on top of his CIA job?

[Thothmes]

27. Because he is still a General Officer serving on active duty

He is caped in pay by the Civil Service law. He can not be paid more than a 150-160 thousand dollars a year (guessing on the figure)or what ever the executive pay schedule permits. Which part of his pay is from the AF vs. the CIA is really immaterial, he is still caped to a certain amount all total.

[MadMaddie]

38. Hey didn't Rumsfeld have those gut feelings?

That worked out real well for us.

[BlueIris]

26. Ew.

This has to stop.

[bdamomma]

29. exactly, when will we get some of those Generals and Admiral

Fallon to pull the plug on these thugs.

[Echo In Light]

28. "..tends to get oversimplified in public discourse." Pot, meet kettle

[formercia]

30. "I personally believe."

Notwithstanding the facts from the analysts.

Save the 'Believe' for church. We deal in facts.

[Echo In Light]

32. Amazing how that "Trust the Experts" jargon still works for so many when it comes to this stuff

[Orsino]

31. I would certainly hope so, for their sake.

It seems to be one way to forestall American invasion.

[The Stranger]

33. He can take his "personal belief" and shove it up his ass. Let's focus on national interests, and

the Neocon traitors have already fucked the U.S. into false wars based on lies like these.

[spanone]

34. i personally watched commandant hayden yesterday and i believe he's out of his fucking mind

[leveymg]

35. This guy's ability to please everyone and change colors with the seasons just amazes me.

A bureaucratic deciduous.

[Javaman]

37. LOLOLOLOL

if the CIA had both hands glued to their ass, they still couldn't find it.

Read "Legacy of Ashes" by Weiner.

Most inept agency ever.

[DCKit]

39. "No, the Vice Resident did NOT call me and tell me to arrange this presser." n/t

[bobthedrummer]

41. He's been listening to too many private conversations without a warrant,

he contracted with Pentagon MZM connections to do that, he's a General in charge of a civilian intelligence agency, he is ok with contracted torture, he can't find where certain information requested by oversight committees disappeared, he is Michael V. Hayden a believer in Iranian nuclear weapons-the sucessor to Porter Goss as Director CIA.

For the record, here are a couple of informative links about General Hayden.

Michael V. Hayden profile from Source Watch
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_V._Hayden

"Bush CIA Nominee Turned Blind Eye As Arms Flowed To Al Qaeda in 1994, 1995" by J.M. Berger (INTELWIRE 5-12-2006)
http://intelwire.egoplex.com/hayden-bosnia.htm

A General heading the CIA, kind of like what the NAZIS and Communists and Pakistan did with their intelligence services, if memory serves me right.