{"id":27720,"date":"2007-12-05T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T04:35:13","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T04:35:13","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T04:35:13","slug":"caller_points_out_key_nie_passage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/","title":{"rendered":"Caller Points Out Key NIE Passage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: Jennifer in Hemet, California, I\u2019m glad you called. I really appreciate your patience in waiting. Welcome.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hi, Rush. I\u2019m glad to get to speak to you. What I\u2019m calling about is the NIE, and having read it, I wanted to comment on it as an intelligence document. The bottom line on it is that it offers no accountable assessment of what Iran\u2019s intentions are. What it does do, it\u2019s structured to imply that that first sentence is an indicator of what Iran\u2019s intentions are.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right: ‘plausible but unlikely.\u2019<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, exactly. And what the document does is allow CIA to lay out data that\u2019s out there without being technically misleading about it but, nevertheless, leaving an impression that they don\u2019t counteract by making any statements about Iran\u2019s intentions. If you look at the end of the document, they do not make an accountable statement about what they think Iran\u2019s intentions are. In fact, if you look up at the scope note on page four, their exact records are: ‘We do not assume that Iran has the intention of acquiring nuclear weapons. Rather, we examine the intelligence to assess,\u2019 blah, blah, blah. So it\u2019s an interesting way to put it. Let me just say this: A well-crafted intelligence document would use that opening sentence\u2019s statement about the nuclear weapons program having halted, as supporting evidence for an accountable assessment of what\u2019s going on and where Iran is headed with this program.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait. The exact words are: ‘We do not assume Iran has the intention of acquiring nuclear weapons\u2019?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Look at page four. I\u2019ll read it to you. ‘This NIE does not assume that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons.\u2019 That\u2019s actually in boldface type on page four of the NIE.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, that\u2019s absurd!<\/p>\n

CALLER: It\u2019s the kind of thing… It\u2019s a Zen sort of statement. You know, you could be communicating your stance on this and then this is what I\u2019m going to tell you. It\u2019s not the way… A military officer who wrote something like that would get locked up by the commander and told to go sit in the corner.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Why?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Because it leaves an invalid impression. You may lay out the exact truth with respect to each of your supporting points and comments, but if you say up front things that leave a misleading impression, then you should be shot.<\/p>\n

RUSH: (laughs) Well, wait a minute. Isn\u2019t it consistent, though, for them to say, ‘We do not assume they\u2019re pursuing nuclear weapons\u2019? Isn\u2019t that consistent with the opening line in the key judgment?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, it leaves an impression of inconsistency, although I can tell you that an intelligence officer who wrote this thing would come back and say, ‘Well, that sentence doesn\u2019t mean that we don\u2019t think they intend to acquire nuclear weapons. It just means that we didn\u2019t assume that in writing this NIE.\u2019<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, okay. I misunderstood you. I\u2019m sorry.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, and I can fully understand how you would misunderstand that. I wouldn\u2019t have written that sentence in that way.<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s a CYA.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Pretty much, yes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s an ambiguous CYA, so that no matter what ends up happening in the future they can\u2019t be held accountable for what they wrote.<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s how it comes off, yes. When you are in the line of intelligence, you learn to put your key judgment up front, meaning, ‘If you take nothing else away, remember this 25-word summary of what I said.\u2019<\/p>\n

RUSH: Which has got a lot of politics behind it in this case.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Exactly. I will tell you this, having worked with the DIA and the military service agencies, the way they probably were gotten to sign off on this is because their loyalty is to their military bosses. They\u2019re not going to sign on to something that\u2019s misleading. I imagine that the way they signed off on this was that it was couched in these kind of non-accountable terms. Basically, everything CIA said is probably technically correct as far as they know. It\u2019s the structure of this thing that makes all the difference.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, maybe so, but the opening line here: They\u2019ve stopped their nuclear program in 2003. Here it is four years later. We\u2019re just now learning this 3-1\/2 years later. Whatever follows, the Drive-Bys are not going to read it. That makes the political point. That paralyzes the president in terms of political action or even tightening sanctions. I do wonder how something like that gets past… Sixteen agencies participate in this.<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: And they all have to sign off on it. Now, have you read the Wall Street Journal editorial today about the three primary authors of this, all State Department people, one of them very disgruntled with a grudge against the world because he\u2019s been trying to get our Iranian policy changed and nobody has been listening to it? <\/p>\n

CALLER: That I haven\u2019t read, and I would be less competent to comment on anything like that. I\u2019m commenting on the way this document is assembled to leave an unaccountable impression, which it leaps out with me because I could never have gotten away with writing this. (laughs)<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, well, you may not want to assume anything, then. I mean, you\u2019re obviously very precise and within the limits of your scope of experience and responsibility. But somebody like me listening to you say these things, I have to ask: Why? If this is so unprofessional, if this is so wouldn\u2019t-pass-muster in your experience, how does this happen?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I would say that it\u2019s undoubtedly prompted by political concerns, and I don\u2019t want to speculate on who has those concerns.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Don\u2019t worry. I\u2019ll take care of that.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right. (laughter) I know you will. You\u2019re very good at that, Rush. My bottom line on this is that, as an intelligence document, it is a waffling document in terms of where it should be accountable and make statements, and that\u2019s what we… Okay, if Iran halted its program in \u201903, what does that mean about Iran\u2019s intentions? You know, ‘How was Iran, in fact, influenced to do that?\u2019 and this document doesn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, what we\u2019re able to access doesn\u2019t say it, but I read a piece by Herb Meyer earlier today, who was very deeply involved in national security during President Reagan\u2019s administration. He said that the full report will never be made public — it\u2019s too classified — but that members of both the House and Senate intelligence committees can get it simply by asking for it. And he suggests — because this conclusion in the key judgment is so at odds with everything we thought we knew, and it\u2019s the only place of all of the intelligence we\u2019ve had in the last number of years that states they gave up their nuclear plan, he thinks — that members of those committees ought to stop everything they\u2019re doing, cancel appearances, get the document, read the whole thing, and then find out what the justifications for the key judgment are, because they\u2019re not in the four or five pages that were released. You\u2019re not going to be allowed to see the whole thing, either, given your past, I would assume. So he\u2019s suggesting they do it, and then if there\u2019s anything at variance with that key judgment, that they tell us.<\/p>\n

CALLER: He certainly has every right to suggest that. I would not stand in the way of that at all, although, you know, certainly they should be responsible about discussing any intelligence sources or methods. They shouldn\u2019t do that. What I will say about this NIE, though, is that if it contains, in the classified version, a key judgment that specifically addresses Iran\u2019s intentions — instead of leaving that to be implied by what they\u2019re saying about what Iran did in 2003 — there\u2019s no reason why that could not be in the unclassified version that gets published.<\/p>\n

RUSH: A-ha.<\/p>\n

CALLER: It should have been.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s an excellent point if they quit why did they quit and do they intend to start again someday? None of that\u2019s answered.<\/p>\n

CALLER: The question is do they intend to start again. It\u2019s just like Iraq and WMD, the whole question is: What are their intentions? What are he they going to continue to try to do.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right. As an intelligence person, does it matter to you what Ahmadinejad threatens and says for years and years and years?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, absolutely. Of course.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay.<\/p>\n

CALLER: It doesn\u2019t seem to matter to these people.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I realize that. One thing that we have made a point of doing for quite a while now, is making sure that we read the conspiratorial nonsense that comes from a lot of the Arabic newspapers. Some of them are very good and a lot of them are just tabloids, but we make sure that we keep up with it because that\u2019s what a lot of people in that part of the world are thinking, and you can\u2019t just dismiss what Ahmadinejad is saying. You can\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, Jennifer, thanks so much for calling. I\u2019m glad you got through. It\u2019s been fascinating. I hadn\u2019t looked at that passage the way you pointed it out, and I appreciate your clarifying that for me.<\/p>\n

CALLER: You\u2019re very welcome!<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thanks, Jennifer.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Have a good one. Thank you, Rush.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Greg in Texas City, Texas, nice to have you on the EIB Network.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Rush, thank you very much for taking my call, and Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yes, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019ve been a longtime listener, first-time caller, and I want to tell you I respect you a lot more today than I did 20 years ago, but I appreciate your stand on what\u2019s going on in the political world and the status of the United States. I happened to be a military advisor in Iran in 1968 through \u201971, and I went back into the country from \u201973 until the fall of the Shah — well, right before the fall of the Shah. And this NIE report, I agree with your previous caller, the intelligence lady, and —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wasn\u2019t she great?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes, she was, and also the CIA man that used to work for the CIA, and the extent and depth of the meaning of the NIE report. This was a no-win situation for George Bush. It\u2019s purely political. And the only winner out of this would be the liberal media, who is succeeding at winning the war for the will of the American people. And the important issue is history and the ignorance or apathy to the facts. Most of the callers that I hear, or people that I hear commenting, in 1979 when Iran — they\u2019d been at war with us since then, since they took over the embassy — most of these callers are in their thirties and forties and maybe fifties. That means they really didn\u2019t have too much involvement with what was going on then. But if the report says that they stopped this program in 2003, you said it a while ago, you were absolutely right, we rightly labeled Iran as part of the axis of evil —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Exactly. I have to —<\/p>\n

CALLER: — when we invaded — <\/p>\n

RUSH: You know, Greg, I have to stop you there. It\u2019s my fault. I\u2019ve run up against a hard break, but thanks so much. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Jennifer in Hemet, California, I\u2019m glad you called. I really appreciate your patience in waiting. Welcome. CALLER: Hi, Rush. I\u2019m glad to get to speak to you. What I\u2019m calling about is the NIE, and having read it, I wanted to comment on it as an intelligence document. The bottom line on it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCaller Points Out Key NIE Passage - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Caller Points Out Key NIE Passage - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: Jennifer in Hemet, California, I\u2019m glad you called. I really appreciate your patience in waiting. Welcome. CALLER: Hi, Rush. I\u2019m glad to get to speak to you. What I\u2019m calling about is the NIE, and having read it, I wanted to comment on it as an intelligence document. The bottom line on it is […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125115.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125115.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125115.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/\",\"name\":\"Caller Points Out Key NIE Passage - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-19T04:35:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-19T04:35:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Caller Points Out Key NIE Passage\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Caller Points Out Key NIE Passage - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Caller Points Out Key NIE Passage - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: Jennifer in Hemet, California, I\u2019m glad you called. I really appreciate your patience in waiting. Welcome. CALLER: Hi, Rush. I\u2019m glad to get to speak to you. What I\u2019m calling about is the NIE, and having read it, I wanted to comment on it as an intelligence document. The bottom line on it is […]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125115.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125115.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/01125115.Par.89380.ImageFile.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/","name":"Caller Points Out Key NIE Passage - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2011-05-19T04:35:13+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-19T04:35:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2007\/12\/05\/caller_points_out_key_nie_passage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Caller Points Out Key NIE Passage"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}