The New York Sun opines on the subject:
For the unelected intelligence bureaucrats who pushed through December's distortion and the newspapers that cheered them on, the walk back from the director is a serious blow. It's hard to recall a situation quite like it. Only a few lines about Mr. McConnell's testimony on this point appeared in yesterday's New York Times, and that was buried in a story that focused on the improvements Al Qaeda has been making in its ability to strike the home front. Yet for a brief moment the unclassified assessment about which Mr. McConnell now has regrets ended political debate about the urgency of stopping the world's leading sponsor of Islamic terror from obtaining an apocalyptic arsenal.
The question of what to do about Iran is difficult. I readily concede that point. I don't want to launch an aerial campaign (that would last weeks to do a thorough job) to crush Iran's nuclear programs and cripple their conventional counter-attack assets. The repercussions could be serious. This is hardly a risk-free option.
But the consequences of Iran under the mullahs getting atomic weapons are far worse in my opinion and I have little confidence that we can change the regime before they get nukes.
But the important thing right now is to admit that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. Let the debate be about what to do about that established point rather than pretend Iran just wants clean nuclear energy, as the NIE was portrayed as comfirming. Maybe doing nothing is the right answer. Maybe Iran can be deterred with our nukes and missile defenses. But maybe we need to overthrow the mullah regime. Maybe we need to attack from the air. Hell, maybe we need to invade and must start expanding our Army right now to have the strength to occupy the entire country and rip out the nuclear infrastructure on the ground. But this is what the debate should be about and not the ludicrous popular view of the NIE as clearing Iran of any guilt.
Still in doubt?
Iran has developed its own version of an advanced centrifuge that churns out fissile material much faster than other machines and has started testing them, diplomats and experts said Thursday.
Today they are just testing them. One day they'll churn out nuclear bombs. Our options will be far more limited once that happens.
