Roger Whittaker

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Bush's reshuffle

Tuesday 9th January 2007

This article by Robert Parry suggests that the reasons for Bush's reshuffle of military, diplocatic and intelligence personnel (and for the policy of "surge") have more to do with future wars against Iran and Syria than with the present one in Iraq.

In particular, Parry thinks that Negroponte was removed because he was unwilling to fit the intelligence to the policy on Iran.

Unlike former CIA Director George Tenet, who bent to Bush's political needs on Iraq, Negroponte stood behind the position of intelligence analysts who cited Iran's limited progress in refining uranium. "Our assessment is that the prospects of an Iranian weapon are still a number of years off, and probably into the next decade," Negroponte said in an interview with NBC News. Expressing a similarly tempered view in a speech at the National Press Club, Negroponte said, "I think it's important that this issue be kept in perspective."

Meanwhile, Israel's likely plans to attack Iran with nuclear weapons have been widely discussed following the reports in the Sunday Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2535310,00.html.