CIA's Capabilities Questioned

For good reason the CIA has a pretty crummy reputation. But this isn't good news.

The timing of the CIA report has also provoked fury in the British Government, where officials believe it has undermined efforts to impose tough new sanctions on Iran and made an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities more likely.

The security services in London want concrete evidence to allay concerns that the Islamic state has fed disinformation to the CIA.

The report used new evidence - including human sources, wireless intercepts and evidence from an Iranian defector - to conclude that Teheran suspended the bomb-making side of its nuclear programme in 2003. But British intelligence is concerned that US spy chiefs were so determined to avoid giving President Bush a reason to go to war - as their reports on Saddam Hussein’s weapons programmes did in Iraq - that they got it wrong this time.

Let's hope there's no truth to the allegation that the CIA is withholding or misrepresenting information in an effort to limit Bush's options in a nuclear game. It's naive to think this doesn't happen on some level, but senior management needs a new face if it's gone this far.

A senior British official delivered a withering assessment of US intelligence-gathering abilities in the Middle East and revealed that British spies shared the concerns of Israeli defence chiefs that Iran was still pursuing nuclear weapons.

”It’s not as if the American intelligence agencies are regarded as brilliant performers in that region. They got badly burned over Iraq."

Agreed. But the pot needs to be introduced to the kettle on this one.