Former Iran president: U.S. intelligence report was leaked by Democrats or independent groups

al Bawaba ^ | December 13 2007

[knighthawk]

Chairman of the Experts Assembly Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Wednesday that the "important" report issued by 16 US intelligence agencies is neither against Tehran nor benefits Washington. The report released on December 3 by the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), said, they did not "assume that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons."

Addressing the 4th congress of Moderation and Development, he commented on reasons for issuing the report, stressing: "My primary speculation is that the report has been issued either by the Democrats or independent groups. The report might have been issued by experts since their investigation has indicated that Iran has not been pursuing nuclear weapons in these years."

"The US president had already been informed of the report and as the Israeli prime minister announced, the report was presented to him during the Annapolis conference by President Bush," Rafsanjani added, according to IRNA.

They knew that if the White House opposed the report, they would face another defeat at international arena, he said, adding that they knew that they had to respond to the public opinion therefore the situation was in a way that the report had to be published.

Referring to the recent report of Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei, he said, "The two reports (NIE and IAEA) changed the situation in a way that the White House was faced with problems in issuing further sanctions against Iran and other issues such as military invasion against the country," Rafsanjani, who is the former Iranian president reiterated.

Despite such reports, the US and its allies have intensified their anti-Iran efforts to show their hatred towards the Iranian nation, he said commenting on recent anti-Iran moves by Washington and certain European states.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[Always Right]

Leave it to the Democrats to undermine US interests. Sometimes you have to wonder if Democrats live in America.

[shield]

bfl

[ravingnutter]

Well, heck...you don’t have to be Einstein to figure that one out.

[Shady]

Lotsa blood on their hands if Mahamood keeps his promise.

[mngran2]

I’m going to swim against what I guess will be the tide in this post and say I’d sooner trust Democrats than some former president of Iran. If politics really should stop at the water’s edge, then we at least have to give our countrymen the benefit of the doubt before we believe an avowed enemy of our nation. I’m not saying there’s no way Democrats didn’t leak this thing, just that I’m not ready to jump onto this bandwagon being driven by a guy named Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who himself said it was just his “speculation”. I’ll wait for some evidence.

[SF Republican]

Have to agree with him, he is probably in the democratic caucus

[paudio]

IIRC, I read an article in a leftist mailing list about Chomsky saying that the EU betrayed Iranian government. He claims that Iran stopped its nuclear development in 2003 at EU’s request but EU didn’t follow up with their promise of helping any sanction against Iran. This was in November, I believe.

[rockinqsranch]

One would think that the extreme efforts to undermine the war by the Democraps should be enough evidence Rafsanjani is close if not right on with his remarks.

[avacado]

It’s all complete BS about the DEMs leaking this report. The NIE reports are Bush Admin requested reports that came into existence after 9/11. The Bush Admin had this report requested and the Bush Admin declassified the full report. There was no leaking of this report.

[avacado]

You are absolutley right! See my post #11

[mngran2]

Thank you for that information. Why so many people are ready to vilify our political opponents before our actual enemies I’ll never understand.

[Miss Didi]

[Archon of the East]

Id like to believe that but given that facts of the last 7 years I honestly don’t know. There are so many incidents of serious breeches of intelligence by Rockefeller, etc that I no longer have any faith that the Dems are even remotely interested in this country. That being said I don’t trust anything I hear that is not spoken in Arabic coming from anyone in the Mideast.

[avacado]

See my post #11

[Archon of the East]

Chomsky is a notorious liar and manipulator of facts by way of linguistics and references. I find it curious that Chomsky and the NIE have the same conclusion. I would hate to think that the NIE was using some Chomsky footnote as the bases for their intelligence. He has a way of citing himself as authority.

[Archon of the East]

Ok sounds correct, I'm just not so sure the Dems are any more friends of America than some of our enemy’s regardless of this report. They have been leaking classified info all over the place so I tend to bite right away when I hear a leak may have occurred.

[avacado]

I agree with your sentiments about the DEMs. I trust them no further than I can throw them... and I don’t really even trust them that far.

I think the reason that the Bush Admin declassified the entire report was to put a stop to any second guessing and spinning.

[AmericaUnited]

I’d sooner trust Democrats than some former president of Iran. If politics really should stop at the water’s edge, then we at least have to give our countrymen the benefit of the doubt before we believe an avowed enemy of our nation

The Demonrats have shown themselves to be AVOWED ENEMIES OF OUR NATION time after time after time. So they get no "benefit of the doubt". Good God man, how many times does someone have to stab you in the back before you realize they are not your friend...