Kucinich: New NIE Report Shows Bush Administration Has Once Again Tried To Falsify Grounds For A War With Iran

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 3, 2007) — Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) issued the following statement amid a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report affirming that Iran does not have an active weapons program:

“The rhetoric coming from the Bush Administration over the last several months has publicly and systematically set the stage for war with Iran,” Kucinich said. “But this report shows that the Administration’s case for war is in direct opposition to the facts as stated in the NIE report.

The NIE report concluded that if Iran were to end the freeze of its weapons program, it would still be at least two years before they would have enough highly enriched uranium to produce a nuclear bomb and it would be “very unlikely” Iran could produce enough material by then.

Last year John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence, asserted that Iran was only 4-5 years away from obtaining a nuclear bomb. But the NIE report concludes it is more likely Iran wouldn’t be able to achieve this goal before 2013, because of technical and programmatic problems.

“As this new report shows, there is no threat to the international community from Iran right now, or in the near future. The report doubles the amount of estimated time until Iran would be able to build a nuclear bomb,” Kucinich said.

“The Bush Administration has falsely led the American people into believing that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, as recently as last month. Belligerence and obfuscation is the same foreign policy that brought us to war with Iraq.

The report overturns a judgment made about Iran’s nuclear capabilities in 2005. Intelligence agencies said with “high confidence” at the time that Iran is determined to have nuclear weapons. But new information led officials to conclude that international pressure, including tough economic sanctions, were successful in halting Iran’s secret program.

“This report is further evidence that Iran can be deterred from weapons development if their other national priorities are met.

“The fact that Iran -- a country President Bush labeled as part of the ‘axis of evil’ -- caved to international pressure and does not have an active weapons program proves the value of diplomacy as an important tool on the international stage,” Kucinich concluded.

Kucinich has repeatedly warned against going to war with Iran. He has spoken numerous times on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about the lack of evidence for a war.