The NIE and Israel
In my banana republic thread, MinnesotaChuck asks the $64,000 question.
I wonder if the withdrawal of the resolution, which went down several days ago, had anything to do with the release of the NIE yesterday.
That–or rather the reverse scenario–seems pretty darn likely to me. Consider these data points:
November 26: Per Seymour Hersh, Bush tells Ehud Olmert what’s in the NIE.
November 27: The Annapolis Peace Conference
November 28: The day Hadley claims Bush was briefed on the NIE; Bush meets with Olmert again
November 29: Khalilzad submits a resolution endorsing Annapolis at UN; Condi calls Khalilzad in the middle of the meeting to ask WTF he’s doing
November 30: A Khalilzad deputy withdraws the UN resolution while Khalilzad is in "previously scheduled" meeting in DC with Condi
December 3: Unexpected public release of NIE showing Iran has given up nuke program
December 4: Israelis say the NIE is wrong; Bush announces his first trip to Israel as President (h/t Laura); both Annapolis and Iran’s purported nukes are on the agenda; Khalilzad calls the claim that he had submitted the resolution without vetting it bull
All of which makes me all the more curious how–and when–the NIE got declassified. Because it sure looks like Israel is only going to let Condi have her Annapolis-based legacy if she allows them to continue to war-monger in Iran. Read more →