Sunday February 25, 2007
Despite growing international concern that Iran is planning to expand its nuclear energy program to produce weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that nearly all intelligence on Iran's nuclear ambitions has been false, reports the LA Times.
"Since 2002, pretty much all the intelligence that's come to us has proved to be wrong," a senior diplomat at the IAEA said, according to writers Bob Drogin and Kim Murphy.
IAEA officials have expressed doubt as to the authenticity of documents recovered by the US from a laptop taken from Iran that purportedly show designs for upgrading ballistic missiles to carry nuclear warheads. One officials was "very unconvinced" that the documents were genuine, according to the article.
The LA Times continues, "The IAEA has its own concerns about Iran's nuclear program, although agency officials say they have found no proof that nuclear material has been diverted to a weapons program."
The reliability of U.S. information and assessments on Iran is increasingly at issue as the Bush administration confronts the emerging regional power on several fronts: its expanding nuclear effort, its alleged support for insurgents in Iraq and its backing of Middle East militant groups.
The CIA still faces harsh criticism for its prewar intelligence errors on Iraq. No one here argues that U.S. intelligence officials have fallen this time for crudely forged documents or pushed shoddy analysis. IAEA officials, who openly challenged U.S. assessments that Saddam Hussein was developing a nuclear bomb, say the Americans are much more cautious in assessing Iran.
American officials privately acknowledge that much of their evidence on Iran's nuclear plans and programs remains ambiguous, fragmented and difficult to prove.
http://www.therawstory.com/
