Washington Post takes a beating

This Washington Post report, "Iran Is Judged 10 Years From Nuclear Bomb", has drawn the ire of the blogosphere. These are the quotes from the article that has everyone upset, and with good reason, I might add.

...according to government sources...
...three U.S. sources said.
...a senior intelligence official familiar with the findings said...
Those familiar with the new judgments...
...only on the condition of anonymity...
...former and current officials said...
...said the officials...only on the condition of anonymity
...said an official familiar with policy discussions...
...a U.S. source said...
...according to four sources...
...sources said...
Sources said...
...four sources said...
...U.S. and foreign officials said.

I have to agree that this report which supposedly quotes from a classified document tells us absolutely nothing except that there may very well be a number of disaffected CIA, NSA, Dept. of State and who knows from what other agency employees who have breached US security and made the country less safe today than it was yesterday. That or a WaPo reporter has been led down the garden path. What this article says, if I am reading it correctly, is that we don't know. That's all it says to me. And that is no change from where we were before this article was printed.

I'm updating this as I have time to read and understand what some other very smart people are saying.

Dr. Stephen Taylor at PoliBlog: As much as I hate to say it, I must confess that my reaction to this report is that I don’t have much confidence in major U.S. intelligence reviews regarding the potential WMD capability of other countries at this point. Was it not a previous NIE that led to much of the justification for the Iraq war in terms of WMD capability?

Roger L. Simon: What, pray tell, is a "U. S. source"? I guess they mean someone in the government, but it could just as well be your Aunt Fanny in Nome, Alaska. -and- We also know Dr. A. Q. Khan was running around passing nuclear information to the North Koreans, the Libyans and who knows who else throughout the 1990s. But not - we would have to assume from this report - his next door neighbors the Iranians.

Gateway Pundit: Also, a questionable review came out today in the Washington Post claiming Iran is 10 years, not five years, away from a nuclear bomb.

McQ at QandO: So excuse me if I take this assessment with a grain of salt. It seems to me to be fashioned to support a competing alternate view of the state of the nuclear program in Iran within the intelligence community, and frankly, based on the WaPo story, it isn't particularly convincing. -and- McQ says an Israeli report agrees with him.

James Joyner at OTB: Indeed, one can scarcely imagine a determined country with a few billions of dollars to spend more than a couple years away from a bomb. A decade? Hardly.

Jan Haugland at Secular Blasphemy: For what it's worth, US intelligence is now saying that Iran is a decade away from a nuclear weapon. -and- Still, let's hope this time they are right, because there appears to be very little to do about Iran's nuclear programme in the short term.

Nick Danger at RedState: Even as our media furiously directs our attention to the "leak" of Mrs. Joseph Wilson's secret life as a CIA operative, they continue to serve as a mouthpiece for those elements in the Intelligence Community who believe that they, and not the elected President, should be running foreign policy. -and- Thanks to these rogue elements and their friends at the Washington Post, we - and the rest of the world, including our enemies - are today made privy to certain aspects of the just-completed National Intelligence Estimate on Iran.

Laura Rozen at War and Peace: These estimates would seem to give breathing space to those who support the US supporting democratic regime change in Iran, rather than focusing solely on Iran's emerging nuclear capabilities.

Pejman at Pejmanesque: Better strawmen, please.

Others commenting, pro and con: Project Nothing, Jonathan Keiler, BlogB with a very detailed analysis, Zangle.info, PostWatch, The Ox Rant, Canadian Perspective, Right Wing Nut House - with a very detailed analysis, NIF, Basil's Blog, Wizbang, Killing Time with detailed list showing why we should be afraid, very afraid., Bradford Plumer, Donklephant, Michael Stickings at The Moderate Voice - buys the entire story.

TAGS: Iran, nuclear capability, classified, blogs, bloggers, blogosphere