After the National Intelligence Estimate last November which reported that Iran had no nuclear program since 2003, many of us breathed a sigh of relief. It was official: When it came to attacking Iran, the administration hadn’t a leg to stand on.

But, as with Iraq, it was used to that. Once anointed lame duck, it didn’t skip a beat and continued to stumble forward. Full Story »

Got hot links if you want ‘em!

In “Mr. Cool’s Intensity” in the Washington Post, David Ignatius writes of Obama’s reluctance to write off Rev. Wright. There’s “an instinctive American fondness for people who don’t rat out their friends, even when their friends are creeps. That’s why a Wright-based strategy may backfire for the Republicans, just as it did for Hillary Clinton.” Full Story »

Got hot links if you want ‘em!

Headline of the week: CLINTON CHALKS UP KEY MEANINGLESS VICTORY. At Asia Times Online courtesy of Muhammad Cohen. (Yes, that’s his real name.)

In her Los Angeles Times column, “My Winning Strategy,” Rosa Brooks writes of Hillary Clinton: “But they said I had to win by double digits to keep my campaign alive. . . . And I am alive! And kicking! And punching and biting and kneeing my opponent in the groin!” Full Story »

Nota Bene attempts to provide an overview of the week’s news. Meanwhile, in its appendix, we cull trenchant comments to articles and posts, as well as those heard in person or emailed. This week Nota Bene appears in two installments: Political and foreign policy today; the economy, lifestyle, and the appendix on Wednesday.

Candidate for most surprising person to come to the defense of Obama for his “Small town comments” (also known as Bitter-gate)? How about correspondent David Brody of Pat Robertson’s network, CBN News? “Look, could Obama have said the whole thing better?” he asked. Of course, “but to me this seems like a case of piling on. We talk a lot in Christian circles about giving people ‘grace’ but in politics those same rules don’t apply.” Full Story »

Appearing weekly, Nota Bene attempts to provide an overview of the week’s news. Meanwhile, in its appendix, we cull trenchant comments to articles and posts, as well as those heard in person or emailed.

Last week General Petraeus said, “The rockets that were launched at the Green Zone were Iranian-provided, Iranian-made rockets.” His statement, along with testimony he’s expected to give in Washington next week, writes Damien McElroy of London’s Telegraph, “could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment.” Was kinda hoping we could dodge that bullet before Bush left office. Full Story »

Appearing weekly, Nota Bene attempts to provide an overview of the week’s news. Meanwhile, in its appendix, we cull trenchant comments to articles and posts, as well as those heard in person or emailed.

In “The Obama Doctrine” at American Prospect, Spencer Ackerman writes: “Obama is offering the most sweeping liberal foreign-policy critique we’ve heard from a serious presidential contender in decades. [He envisions] a doctrine that first ends the politics of fear . . . in favor of ‘dignity promotion,’ to fix the conditions of misery that breed anti-Americanism. ”We want to have [a foreign policy] debate with John McCain,’ a close Obama adviser says.” Full Story »

Cold. But true.

What is it with George Bush and his halfwitted predilection for declaring victory before the fight is over?

Bush speech hails Iraq ‘victory’President George W Bush has delivered a speech to mark the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Speaking at the Pentagon, Mr Bush said “removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision”.

And he went on to say that the recent “surge” of US troops to Iraq has brought about “a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror”.

Mr. President, if they’re still shooting at you, you should be careful about declaring victory. Full Story »

The Bush administration likes to think of itself as nuclear policeman to the world. North Korea? Put those missiles back in your pants. Iraq? Wipe that nuclear smirk off your face. Iran? We don’t like the look on your face either — no nuclear power for you.

Bush & Co. have gotten North Korea to shut down its reactor. But they can’t take credit for shuttering Iraq’s nuclear labs — Bush 41’s Gulf war convinced Saddam to do that. Still there’s no doubt that they’ve delayed Iran’s nuclear evolution.

Never mind any irregularities inherent in our initiatives toward Iran. Such as denying it the nuclear fuel it’s guaranteed by Article IV of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Or putting the fear of God into European diplomats by showing them plans for a nuclear warhead designed to fit on a missile with just enough thrust to reach Europe. Full Story »

The UN Security Council just passed a third set of sanctions against Iran ostensibly because it refuses to cease and desist enriching uranium. In truth it was informed by another issue both more immediate and intimidating.

On February 22 the International Atomic Energy Agency issued what seemed like a passing grade to Iran’s nuclear program. But shortly before that, its chief of weapons inspection, Olli Heinonen, exhibited approximately 1,000 documents and videos to an array of ambassadors and experts in Vienna.

They’d been downloaded from a laptop described by the Washington Post in 2005 as “allegedly stolen from an Iranian whom German intelligence tried, unsuccessfully, to recruit as an informant [and] whisked out of the country by another Iranian.” Among them were apparent designs for nuclear warheads –- light years more menacing than just the enriched uranium that infuses them. Full Story »

The day after the International Atomic Energy Agency issued its latest report card on Iran’s nuclear program, the New York Times headlined its story: “Nuclear Agency Says Iran Has Used New Technology.” The IAEA, David Sanger explained, had presented Iran with evidence that it was conducting experiments in manufacturing nuclear weapons.

At the end of second paragraph, he mentions that the report also stated that “Iranian officials had finally begun to answer a number of longstanding questions about its nuclear activities.”

But the IAEA, its report itself concludes, “has been able to continue to verify” that Iran isn’t diverting nuclear material from nuclear energy to weapons research. Though it can’t give Iran a clean bill of nuclear heath “before reaching some clarity about the nature of the alleged studies.” Full Story »

You saw the Obama video. Now, in the interest of equal time, our friends at AmericaBlog offer a rebuttal from John McCain.

“The Universe hates me you know. I don’t know why; I’ve never done anything to the Universe to… Well, alright. A few things, but after a while you’d think it would be enough. ‘Yes, we’ve had our fun with Londo Mollari for now. Perhaps it is time to move on and find someone else to play with.’” — Londo Mollari, Babylon 5

Hey, wasn’t someone else dropping out of the 2008 campaign again? Who was it? Fred Thompson?

Oh, yeah, right–this guy:

Giuliani’s unconventional strategy of largely bypassing the early voting states and focusing on more populous, delegate-rich states produced just one delegate, a bunch of sixth-place finishes and made him the odd man out. His best showing was Florida, where he had staked his candidacy. He finished a distant third. It was a remarkable defeat for the ex-mayor who entered the race more than a year ago with an aura of invincibility, leading national polls and earning a reputation for toughness after his stewardship of New York as terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001. Full Story »

It was only a matter of time.

John Edwards Drops Out of Presidential Race
– Former Senator’s Campaign Adviser: ‘It Just Became Clear It Wasn’t Going to Happen’

Former Senator John Edwards, D-N.C., will drop out of the Democratic presidential race on Wednesday.

“It just became clear it wasn’t going to happen,” a senior Edwards adviser tells ABC News’ Rick Klein.

Edwards, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2004 before joining Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., as his vice presidential candidate, had placed poorly in several early contests, lagging behind rivals Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. Full Story »

Not only Obama, but Iran’s Supreme Leader, spoke with a barbed tongue this week.

It was the week of the artful put-down. The first was Obama’s now infamous response to Hillary Clinton’s protest, at the last presidential New Hampshire debate, that “I don’t think I’m that bad.”

“You’re likeable enough,” he replied in the zinger heard around the world.

“That one-liner swung the primary,” said Reason Magazine’s David Weigel. Along with countless others, he recoiled at Obama apparently taking advantage of Hillary’s newfound vulnerability. Full Story »

Hey, what’s that in our stocking? It’s Ron Paul! Oh joy - we got The Truth® for Christmas!

Ahem. So those of you who thought Ron Paul was going to go away once the big boys got serious have probably been surprised by his staying power so far. He’s polling in the high single digits (something Ronald Reagan Fred Thompson can’t say) and one pollster thinks his actual numbers are in the double digits. He says he’s raised $19M this quarter. His supporters are insane courageously enthusiastic, and he seems to be showing strength among some groups that you wouldn’t expect - progressives, younger voters, etc.

And of course, he’s left the rest of the pack for dead in the highly scientific S&R reader poll, where at the moment of this writing he has over twice as many votes as the rest of the GOP candidates put together (unless you count “other”).

Election watchers in both parties are trying to better understand Paul’s appeal and what it means for their candidates’ chances. Full Story »

Hillary Clinton has been called everything from a hawk to a “war goddess” (by AntiWar.com’s Justin Raimondo, and on a regular basis). But just how strong on defense is she?

We all know that she voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq and dragged her heels on turning against the war. Regarding Iran, she has insisted that “we cannot take any option off the table.”

Also, she was the only Democratic senator to support the Kyl-Lieberman amendment which called for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to be designated a terrorist organization. The better, she maintained to “apply greater diplomatic pressure on Iran.”

“See?” a supporter might exclaim. “Once elected president, she’ll choose diplomacy over war every time. She just talks like that to win.”

Many a sober-sided soul misplaced their critical faculties in the wake of 9/11. Are we being too hard on Hillary? In the spirit of the holiday season, shouldn’t we let bygones be bygones? Full Story »

A sergeant in the US Army Special Forces with whom I’m acquainted turned me on to an article on Israel’s Ynet in which a member of the Knesset responded to the Iran NIE.

Shas party minister Yitzhak Cohen has been called a key coalition partner in Olmert’s government. According to reporter Roni Sofer, during a security cabinet meeting, Cohen said, “In the middle of the previous century the Americans received intelligence reports from Auschwitz on the packed trains going to the extermination camps. They claimed then that the railways were industrial. Their attitude today to the information coming out of Iran on the Iranians’ intention to produce a nuclear bomb reminds one of their attitude during the holocaust.”

Ouch –- to the tune of three billion dollars! (That’s how much aid, mostly defense, the US bestows on Israel yearly.) Full Story »

A special comment on Bush’s duplicity over the NIE report.

If you’re not seeing the video, here’s the link.

The Iran NIE has elicited a range of emotions in those opposed to the Bush administration’s policies from gloating to discreet celebration. In the minds of many, it’s like V-Day: Let the church bells peal, kiss a girl in Times Square. Others, particularly Iranian commentators located in the US, are considerably less sanguine.

They fear, as Farideh Farhi writes at Juan Cole’s spin-off, Informed Comment: Global Affairs, that the NIE can “easily become an instrument in support of the Bush Administration’s current policy.”

In fact, according to Kaveh Afrasiabi at Asia Times Online, “The temporary freeze on the military option [resulting from] the new intelligence report has nested within it its exact opposite.” In other words, a Trojan horse. Full Story »