That NIE, made public Dec. 3, embarrassed the administration by concluding that Tehran had halted its weapons program in 2003, which seemed to undermine years of bellicose rhetoric from Bush and other senior officials about Iran's nuclear ambitions. But in private conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week, the president all but disowned the document, said a senior administration official who accompanied Bush on his six-nation trip to the Mideast. "He told the Israelis that he can't control what the intelligence community says, but that [the NIE's] conclusions don't reflect his own views" about Iran's nuclear-weapons program, said the official, who would discuss intelligence matters only on the condition of anonymity.

That same intelligence structure that was privately saying Iraq didn't have WMD in 2002 but was overruled by the White House is now saying Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapons program now, and what's the White House saying? Yes they do.

We've been down this road before, and it goes to Candy Mountain.

Bothersome Intel on Iran | Newsweek Periscope | Newsweek.com