La phrase du jour 15/01/08 - George W. Bush
"Je ne peux contrôler ce que la communauté du renseignement dit mais les conclusions du National Intelligence Estimate ne reflètent pas mes propres vues"
George W. Bush à Ehud Olmert dans une conversation privée citée par un haut fonctionnaire américain présent
Le National Intelligence Estimate, signé des 16 agences américaines de renseignement, a estimé, "avec un degré de certitude élevé" qu'à l'automne 2003, Téhéran a mis fin à son programme d'armes nucléaires.
George W. Bush, sachant qu'il ne peut plus attaquer l'Iran avant son départ, donne t-il ainsi son feu vert à Ehud Olmert ?
Bothersome Intel on Iran
NEWSWEEK Jan 21, 2008"In public, President Bush has been careful to reassure Israel and other allies that he still sees Iran as a threat, while not disavowing his administration's recent National Intelligence Estimate. That NIE, made public Dec. 3, embarrassed the administration by concluding that Tehran had halted its weapons program in 2003, which seemed to undermine years of bellicose rhetoric from Bush and other senior officials about Iran's nuclear ambitions. But in private conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week, the president all but disowned the document, said a senior administration official who accompanied Bush on his six-nation trip to the Mideast. "He told the Israelis that he can't control what the intelligence community says, but that [the NIE's] conclusions don't reflect his own views" about Iran's nuclear-weapons program, said the official, who would discuss intelligence matters only on the condition of anonymity..."
Artificial Intelligence
Slate Jan. 14, 2008"...This remark has three baleful consequences. First, it can't help but demoralize the intelligence community. NIEs are meant, ultimately, for only one reader, the president; and here's the president telling another world leader that he doesn't believe it because, well, he doesn't agree with it.
Second, it reinforces the widespread view that the president views intelligence strictly as a political tool: When it backs up his policies, it's as good as gold; when it doesn't, it's "just guessing." This result is that all intelligence is degraded and devalued, at home and abroad. Let's say that six months from now Bush publicizes an NIE concluding that Iran has resumed its nuclear-weapons program or that, say, North Korea is reprocessing more plutonium. Given that he pooh-poohed an NIE that rubbed against his own views, why should anyone take him seriously for embracing an NIE that confirms them?
Third, by telling Olmert that it's all right to ignore the NIE, Bush is in effect telling him that Israel should go ahead and behave as if its findings had never been published. Hirsh reports that, when Olmert was asked whether he felt reassured by Bush's words, he replied, "I am very happy." ABC News reported Monday that, at a closed hearing of the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee, Olmert testified, "All options that prevent Iran from gaining nuclear capabilities are legitimate within the context of how to grapple with this matter."..."
