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Spy agencies under fire over Iran report
The US intelligence report which said Iran had halted its drive for atomic weapons in 2003 has cast new doubts on the 'credibility of American intelligence'.
- Gulf News Report
- Published: 23:14 December 5, 2007
- Image Credit: AP
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad greets his supporters in Ilam province in Iran.
Dubai: The US intelligence report which said Iran had halted its drive for atomic weapons in 2003 has cast new doubts on the credibility of American intelligence, especially after the spy agencies made similiar mistakes on Iraq's weapons programme, according to the New York Times.
"How could US intelligence agencies have overstated Iran's intentions in 2005 so soon after being reprimanded for making similar errors involving Iraq?" the paper asked.
"The fact that we've reversed course two years later suggests that the high confidence back then wasn't warranted," Robert Hutchings, former head of the National Intelligence Council from 2003 to early 2005, was quoted as saying.
Paul R. Pillar, another member of the National Intelligence Council in 2005, said it was a "fair point" to criticise intelligence agencies for overstating their confidence in the judgments of the 2005 estimate.
Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammad Al Baradei called for immediate negotiations between Iran and its Western critics.
But Western powers urged the UN Security Council to agree a third UN sanctions resolution to punish Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.
"There is time for diplomacy to work, but there isn't time to stop and say 'we don't need the diplomacy,'" said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
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