"They stole our threat” goes a headline in the Israeli daily, Haaretz. The author is, of course, referring to the recently published US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) composed by 16 American intelligence agencies. It counters US and Israeli assertions that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. There’s been no such program since 2003, it states.

For those of us in the neighborhood, this is good news but the powers that be in Washington and Tel Aviv are seething. With plans to squeeze the Iranian leadership with further UN sanctions and a military option on the table, this was not what either country wanted to hear.

George W. Bush says the report doesn’t change anything. On the co...

"They stole our threat” goes a headline in the Israeli daily, Haaretz. The author is, of course, referring to the recently published US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) composed by 16 American intelligence agencies. It counters US and Israeli assertions that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. There’s been no such program since 2003, it states.

For those of us in the neighborhood, this is good news but the powers that be in Washington and Tel Aviv are seething. With plans to squeeze the Iranian leadership with further UN sanctions and a military option on the table, this was not what either country wanted to hear.

George W. Bush says the report doesn’t change anything. On the contrary, he says, it shows that Tehran was working toward the manufacture of nuclear weapons in the past and could reconstitute the program again.

When challenged by reporters over his “World War III” speech, he said nobody told him that Iran didn’t have a current weapons program. This assertion has gone down like a lead brick with skeptical administration’s critics.

Iran is no threat and that’s official. By Linda S. Heard, Online Journal, Dec 12, 2007