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Well, in terms of articles, you guys are getting slightly better. That thing about algae is interesting.  But all of those articles on how Wikipedia, which is more successful and accurate than you, sucks, aren’t nearly as important as the one that proves the democrats right (HA! No pointless war for the republicans).  Oh, did you hear about how Mike Huckabee paroled a rapist that assaulted and killed one of Clinton’s relatives?  He killed and raped 2-3 more people.  Smart.  Anyhoo,
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'''Rudolph William "Rudy" Giuliani''' (born May 28, 1944 in [[Brooklyn]], NY) is a former two-term [[Mayor]] of [[New York City]], former [[United States Attorney]] and [[Deputy U.S. Attorney General]].  As mayor of New York City he became a media favorite based on his [[liberal]] positions on [[abortion]] and [[homosexuality]] and his devotion to the press.  As mayor he would hold almost daily press conferences, and his personal indiscretions became favorite topics for the media.  Despite his shortcomings in preparation and immediate response to the terrorist attacks of [[9/11]], the media hailed him as "America's Mayor" for his frequent media appearances afterwards.
+
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.  
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
Originally a Democrat who supported [[George McGovern]],<ref>http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/03/13/swiftboat_rudy/</ref> Giuliani is currently a candidate for the [[Republican]] nomination for [[President of the United States of America|President of the United States]] in the [[2008 Presidential Election|2008 election]].
     −
== Early Life ==
     −
According to his official biography<ref>  "A Biography Of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani" The City of New York Office of the Mayor [http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/bio.html] </ref>
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
<blockquote>
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.  
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
:In 1944, Rudolph W. Giuliani was born to a working class family in Brooklyn, New York. As the grandson of Italian immigrants, Mayor Giuliani learned a strong work ethic and a deep respect for America's ideal of equal opportunity. He attended Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School (Class of '61) in Brooklyn, Manhattan College (Class of '65) in the Bronx and New York University Law School in Manhattan, graduating magna cum laude in 1968.</blockquote>
     −
== Personal Life ==
  −
Giuliani has been married three times. First to his second cousin [[Regina Peruggi]], on October 26, 1968. In 1976 the couple split. They did not have any children. His second marriage was to [[Donna Hanover]]. Giuliani filed for legal separation from Peruggi on August 12, 1982. Giuliani and Hanover started living together later that year in Washington, D.C. A [[Roman Catholic]] Church [[annulment]] (of the Giuliani-Peruggi marriage) was granted at the end of 1983<ref>http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0212072giuliani12.html</ref> because, according to Giuliani, they did not have the necessary Church dispensation.
     −
Giuliani and Hanover then married on April 15, 1984. They had two children, Andrew and Caroline. In May 2000, Giuliani admitted to an extramarital relationship with Judith Nathan and called a press conference to reveal he intended to separate from Hanover. Hanover did not know that Giuliani intended to make such an announcement and was reportedly caught somewhat by surprise <ref>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E7D8163BF932A25756C0A9669C8B63&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=2</ref>
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
Giuliani then married Judith Nathan in 2003, his third marriage.
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.  
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
==Legal Career==
     −
According to his official biography<ref>  "A Biography Of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani" The City of New York Office of the Mayor [http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/bio.html] </ref>
  −
<blockquote>
  −
:Upon graduation, Rudy Giuliani clerked for Judge Lloyd MacMahon, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. In 1970, Giuliani joined the office of the U.S. Attorney. At age 29, he was named Chief of the Narcotics Unit and rose to serve as executive US Attorney. In 1975, Giuliani was recruited to Washington, D.C., where he was named Associate Deputy Attorney General and chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General. From 1977 to 1981, Giuliani returned to New York to practice law at Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler.
     −
:In 1981, Giuliani was named Associate Attorney General, the third highest position in the [[U.S. Department of Justice]]. As Associate Attorney General, Giuliani supervised all of the US Attorney Offices' Federal law enforcement agencies, the Bureau of Corrections, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the US Marshals.
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
 +
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.  
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
:In 1983, Giuliani was appointed US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he spearheaded the effort to jail drug dealers, fight organized crime, break the web of corruption in government, and prosecute white-collar criminals. Few US Attorneys in history can match his record of 4,152 convictions with only 25 reversals. </blockquote>
     −
==Mayoral Campaigns and Service==
  −
According to his official biography<ref>  "A Biography Of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani" The City of New York Office of the Mayor [http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/rwg/html/bio.html] </ref>
  −
<blockquote>
  −
:In 1989, Giuliani entered the race for mayor of New York City as a candidate of the Republican and Liberal parties, losing by the closest margin in City history. However in 1993, his campaign focusing on quality of life, crime, business and education made him the 107th Mayor of the City of New York. In 1997 he was re-elected by a wide margin, carrying four out of New York City's five boroughs.
  −
:As Mayor, Rudy Giuliani has returned accountability to City government and improved the quality of life for all New Yorkers. Under his leadership, overall crime is down 57%, murder has been reduced 65%, and New York City - once infamous around the world for its dangerous streets - has been recognized by the F.B.I. as the safest large city in America for the past five years. <ref> See also "Time's 2001 Person of the Year Rudy Giuliani"[http://www.time.com/time/poy2001/]</ref></blockquote>
     −
In 2002 he published ''Leadership'', recounting his terms as mayor.
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
<br />
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
−
<br />
+
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
−
Among Giuliani's most notable accomplishments during his mayoralty was his successful assault on [[pornography]] businesses in [[Times Square]]. The neighborhood had long been a mecca for "sexually oriented businesses", but through a prolonged campaign which included maintaining an alliance of local businesses, conservative and feminist groups and the general public, Giuliani managed to clean up the sex mart which was Times Square and replace it with legitmate theaters, restaurants and shops.
+
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
==September 11 Terrorist Attacks==
     −
On Sept. 10, 2001, Giuliani was known as a crime fighter from his days as a United States attorney and as the mayor who had overseen New York's revival, including a 40% drop in crime.  But at home his approval rating hovered around 50 percent. In any case, he was a lame duck, barred by term limits from seeking re-election, in a city that in any case felt increasingly worn out by eight years of combativeness and racial tension. The year before, after a surprisingly rocky re-election campaign, a diagnosis of prostate cancer had led him to reject a run for the Senate seat eventually won by Hillary Rodham Clinton. And while his supporters talked of a presidential bid, the prospect seemed a long shot for a Republican who supported abortion rights and restrictions on gun sales.
     −
A week after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks|9/11 attacks]], due to his almost universally acclaimed leadership in the aftermath of that tragedy, his approval rating hovered at nearly 80%. Since then he has been on almost every short list of Republican contenders. In his talks, Giuliani uses Sept. 11 to make two points. The first is that he has proven himself to be a leader, and having a proven leader in these troubled times, he tells audiences, is more important than whether you agree with everything he stands for. The other is that his handling of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks proved his competency. <ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/us/politics/12topic-giuliani.html?_r=1&oref=slogin</ref>
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
 +
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.  
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.  
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.  
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
The International Association of Fire Fighters, America's largest union of [[firefighter]]s, posted a grievence against Giuliani's November 2001 decision to reduce the number of firefighters searching the rubble of Ground Zero for the remains of some 300 fallen comrades. Their argument is that Giuliani's decisions meant that firefighters and citizens who died would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever or be removed like other rubble and garbage and deposited in landfills.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/09/giuliani.firefighters.ap/index.html</ref>
     −
According to one news report, "Giuliani's backers also released an open letter to firefighters from retired New York firefighter Lee Ielpi that calls the union's accusations 'offensive and inaccurate.' Ielpi lost his oldest son, 29-year-old New York City firefighter Jonathan Lee Ielpi, on Sept. 11.
     −
'I was deeply disappointed and disheartened to learn of the recent partisan political activities' by the IAFF, he wrote. 'Firefighters have no greater friend and supporter than Rudy Giuliani,' Ielpi said."<ref> Firefighters Claim Giuliani Ignored Needs After 9/11 (Update2) by Kim Chipman Bloomberg News, March 9, 2007 [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a8o5p2XiTQhk&refer=us]</ref>
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
Giuliani's campaign staff noted that the IAFF endorsed Senator [[John Kerry]]'s presidential bid in 2003 when the Massachusetts Democrat was still considered a long shot.<ref>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a8o5p2XiTQhk&refer=us</ref>
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.  
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
==Political Views==
     −
===Abortion===
  −
Rudy Giuliani supports "responsible" restrictions on abortion such as parental notification with a judicial bypass and a ban on [[partial birth abortion]] – except when the life of the mother is at stake. He holds that he and his fellow Republicans can "respectfully disagree" on this issue.{{fact}} However, In 1997 Giuliani said that then - President [[Bill Clinton]] made the right decision when he vetoed a ban on partial birth abortion. During his 2000 Senate campaign he said that he would "vote to preserve the option for women.” Giuliani has also given six contributions to [[Planned Parenthood]] in the 1990s. The payments, totaling $900, were made in 1993, 1994, 1998 and 1999. Planned Parenthood is one of the top abortion advocates and abortion providers in the [[United States]].
     −
===Death penalty===
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
Giuliani only favors capital punishment for murder in certain circumstances. One such example is that he has advocated the death penalty for [[terrorist]]s following September 11.  
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
−
===Education===
+
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
−
Giuliani supports school vouchers for lower-income students. He is also a supporter of privatizing failing schools.
+
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.  
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
===Government Spending===
  −
Rudy Giuliani supports a large decrease in federal spending and a Balanced Budget Amendment to ensure responsible fiscal management. As New York City mayor, he cut the size of city-funded government bureaucracy by nearly 20% - excluding the number of cops on the street and teachers in the classroom.
     −
===Gun Rights===
  −
Giuliani has changed his views on guns over time. As mayor of New York, he was a proponent of urban gun control, but, while running for President, has stated that he thinks differently about more mid-west environments. As Mayor of New York, Giuliani became a nationally visible figure in favor of gun control measures, beginning with an appearance on [[Meet the Press]] in late 1993. He was in favor of the 1993 Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. In 1995, Giuliani called member's of the [[National Rifle Association]] "extremists." And that anti-gun control positions of many Republicans are "terrible for America."
     −
===Health Care===
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
On February 26, 2007, Giuliani said that he was against any notion of universal health care in America, which would mean a "socialization" of American medicine. "That would be a terrible, terrible mistake. [Solutions] have to be free market solutions. They have to be a competitive system." He wrote an article for the Boston Globe on his official position on health care. In it he stated that taxes should not be raised to provide more health care but instead lowered for "individual empowerment". He talked about the creation of a tax-free Health Savings Account that would allow individuals and small businesses to stock up on health insurance and in effect lower rates.  
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.  
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
"America is best when we solve our problems from our strengths, not our weaknesses. Healthcare reform must be based on increased choice, affordability, portability, and individual empowerment." (Giuliani)
     −
===Homeland Security===
  −
Giuliani has supported President [[George W. Bush]]'s tactic of using domestic surveillance.
     −
===[[Immigration]]===
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
Rudy Giuliani's position on illegal immigration has changed over the years. In 1996, he said that "We're never, ever going to be able to totally control immigration in a country that is as large as ours." He went on to say, "If you were to totally control immigration into the United States, you might very well destroy the economy of the United States, because you'd have to inspect everything and everyone in every way possible." As Mayor, Giuliani said that, "There isn’t a mayor or public official in this country that is more strongly pro immigrant than I am. Including disagreeing with President Clinton when he signed an anti immigrant legislation about 2 or 3 years ago." However, now his view on Immiration is much more conservative. In February 2007, in a meeting with [[California]] Republicans, Giuliani was quoted as saying "We need a [[border]] fence, and a highly technological one." And identify every non-citizen in the country.  
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
−
Giuliani defends New York City's sanctuary policy. <ref> [http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/giuliani_immigration/2007/09/07/30827.html Rudy: Illegal Immigration Not a Crime], [[NewsMax]], September 7, 2007</ref>
+
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.  
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.  
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.  
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
===[[Iraq]]===
  −
Rudy Giuliani strongly supports completing the mission in Iraq and hunting for terrorists and insurgents. Giuliani was described by [[Newsweek]] magazine in January of 2007 as "one of the most consistent cheerleaders for the president’s handling of the war in Iraq."
     −
===Personal Tax===
  −
Giuliani is known to be a strong [[fiscal conservative]]. He cut taxes 23 times in New York and turned a $2.3 billion budget deficit into a multi-billion dollar surplus, while balancing the city’s budget. Because he turned his conservative principles into action, New York City taxpayers saved more than $9 billion in taxes and enjoyed their lowest tax burden in decades, while the economy grew and city government saw its revenues increase from the lower tax rates. [[Club for Growth]], a conservative political action committee which supports lower taxes, school choice and free trade has said that, "it is impossible to ignore Giuliani's overall commitment to a pro-growth philosophy and his executive talent for implementing that philosophy in a hostile political environment."
     −
===Same-Sex Marriage===
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
Although Rudy Giuliani does not support same-sex marriage, he does support "domestic partnerships" that provide stability for Americans who are in non-traditional relationships.
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
−
==2008 Presidential Campaign==
+
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
−
''Main article: [[Rudy Giuliani 2008 Presidential Campaign]]''
+
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
He is running for the Republican nomination for president of the United States in 2008.  The [[National Catholic Register]] is advising Catholics not to vote for Giuliani in 2008 because he is pro-choice. <ref>[http://ncregister.com/site/article/2017 No Deal Rudy]</ref><br>
     −
Giuliani is leading in most polling for the 2008 Republican nomination.<ref>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/republican_presidential_nomination-192.html</ref> 
     −
In an apparent attempt to appease (or mislead) [[conservatives]], Giuliani picked [[libertarians]] (Ted Olson and Miguel Estrada) and an executive (Larry Thompson), all likely to be pro-choice, to head his panel for nominating judges.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289367,00.html</ref>  Olson opposed [[conservative]] [[John Roberts]] in 1982 on limiting jurisdiction,<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/27/roberts.documents/index.html</ref> and Estrada applied RICO against abortion protesters and forced open the airwaves to profanity. The [[neoconservative]] (socially [[liberal]]) [http://powerlineblog.com/archives/018248.php Power Line blog] declared without basis, "It would be hard to come up with a group of lawyers and judges that would be more reassuring to conservatives in this regard."
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
 +
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."  
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
==Endorsements==
  −
===Congressional===
  −
* Senator [[David Vitter]] of [[Louisiana]]
  −
* Congresswoman [[Judy Biggert]] of [[Illinois]]
  −
* Congresswoman [[Mary Bono]] of [[California]]
  −
* Congressman [[Charles Boustany]] of [[Louisiana]]
  −
* Congressman [[Charlie Dent]] of [[California]]
  −
* Congressman [[Phil English]] of [[Pennsylvania]]
  −
* Congressman [[Vito Fossella]] of [[New York]]
  −
* Congressman [[Jim Gerlach]] of [[Pennsylvania]]
  −
* Congressman [[Peter King]] of [[New York]]
  −
* Congressman [[Jerry Lewis]] of [[California]]
  −
* Congressman [[Frank LoBiondo]] of [[New York]]
  −
* Congresswoman [[Candice Miller]] of [[Michigan]]
  −
* Congressman [[Devin Nunes]] of [[California]]
  −
* Congressman [[Jon Porter]] of [[Nevada]]
  −
* Congressman [[George Radanovich]] of [[California]]
  −
* Congressman [[Dave Reichert]] of [[Washington]]
  −
* Congressman [[Ed Royce]] of [[California]]
  −
* Congressman [[Pete Sessions]] of [[Texas]]
  −
* Congressman [[Jim Walsh]] of [[New York]]
  −
* Congressman [[Jerry Weller]] of [[Illinois]]
  −
===Governors===
  −
*Former Governor of California [[Pete Wilson]]
  −
===Hollywood===
  −
*Actor [[Adam Sandler]]
  −
*Actor [[Kelsey Grammer]]
  −
*Actor [[Kevin James]], stand-up comedian who played Doug Heffernan on the [[King of Queens]]
  −
== Further Reading ==
        −
*About: Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11, 2006
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
*Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, Wayne Barrett, 2005
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
−
*The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life, by Fred Siegel, 2005
+
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
−
*Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City, by Andrew Kirtzman, 2000
+
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
   −
==References==
  −
<references/>
     −
{{2008_presidential_candidates}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Guiliani, Rudolph}}
+
 
−
[[Category:United States Mayors]]
+
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
−
[[Category:2008 Presidential Candidates]]
+
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
−
[[Category:Republican Party]]
+
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
 +
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
 +
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
 +
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 +
WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 +
ADVERTISEMENT
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
 +
Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
 +
Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
 +
Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
 +
More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 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 having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
 +
Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
 +
Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
 +
The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
 +
Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
 +
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
 +
"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
 +
In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
 +
Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
 +
In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
 +
"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 +
While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 +
The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 +
"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 +
Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 +
"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 +
Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 +
___
 +
EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
Tick
30

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Retrieved from "https://www.conservapedia.com/Special:MobileDiff/348620"

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