Today in Cherry-Picking

This morning I heard a Minnesota Public Radio show where the host and at least one guest breathlessly paraded the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that, in part, claims Iran stopped their nuclear weapons program years ago as a means to . . . well, I'm not sure what the point was. I think their motivation lies in the product of a mix president-as-idiot, war/military bad and wanting to have a cookie exchange with Tehran, capitol of a safe, friendly, open happyland. Well, this morning, John Bolton was in the WaPo with some balance and perspective:

All this shows that we not only have a problem interpreting what the mullahs in Tehran are up to, but also a more fundamental problem: Too much of the intelligence community is engaging in policy formulation rather than "intelligence" analysis, and too many in Congress and the media are happy about it.

The current NIE freely admits to having only moderate confidence that the suspension continues and says that there are significant gaps in our intelligence and that our analysts dissent from their initial judgment on suspension. This alone should give us considerable pause.

That such a flawed product could emerge after a drawn-out bureaucratic struggle is extremely troubling. While the president and others argue that we need to maintain pressure on Iran, this "intelligence" torpedo has all but sunk those efforts, inadequate as they were. Ironically, the NIE opens the way for Iran to achieve its military nuclear ambitions in an essentially unmolested fashion, to the detriment of us all.

Now, just gotta get Big Media to catch its breath, and remember what journalism is all about, and OH LOOK OVER THERE; IT'S A CELEBRITY!