Dr. Goudarz Eghtedari, one of the panelists at last week’s Debate Club on Iran, wrote in with his reaction to the news that Iran ended its nuclear program in 2003.

In My Opinion:

Last week I was invited to Portland Mercury’s debate club to discuss my opinions on whether it is needed to Bomb Iran or not. As part of my opening remarks I noted that one of the problems we face these days is the information that is withheld from us or simply we are denied of. Today something happened that proved my point like the light of the day. The National Intelligence Estimate report with regards to Iran’s Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities was released. It said that Iranians had halted their weapons program in 2003 and have not pursued it since then. That is about the same time that we now know Iran offered the great bargain to the Bush administration via Swiss Embassy in Tehran. According to Flynt Leverett, the senior director for Middle East affairs on the National Security Council (2002-3) and Richard Armitage the Deputy Secretary of State (2001-2005) that proposal was ignored and rejected under pressure from the vice president’s office.

The US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran was held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear program. A NIE coordinates the judgments of the US's 16 intelligence agencies on a specific country or issue. The aim of delay was to make the document more supportive of Vice President Dick Cheney's militarily aggressive policy toward Iran, according to accounts provided by participants in the NIE process to two former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers that Gareth Porter talked to for his report published in Asia Times on Nov.10th of this year (“Spooks refuse to toe Cheney's line on Iran.”)

The report declassified partially today raises a serious question about honesty of the president and its administration on this issue. For example, President Bush said on October 17: "I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have(…ing) the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." A week or two before Tony Blair in a New York appearance talked about the threats of fascism and similarity of the situation with 1930s of Germany. President Sarkuzi also has been talking about the information they have received that proves the Iranian intentions of making bomb. These were all claimed after IAEA chairman ElBaradei came out strongly about his organization semi-positive reports on Iranian Nuclear program.

As Porter suggests the conclusions of the NIE have been known for quite a long time but were not permitted to be released. The question then becomes what did the President know and when, and why he continued misleading the world. It is obvious that if the NIE was held up for a year it was readily available to the President. Knowing what we know today, thanks to the solid resistance of the Intelligence community, we have the right to question the integrity of the White House and especially the office of the Vice President, when it has shown once again the lack of sincerity.

Dr. Goudarz Eghtedari is a director of the American Iranian Friendship Council in Portland, Oregon (www.aifcpdx.org)