AFP: Iran plans to set up police stations run by women officers in the Islamic republic’s capital to deal only with offences committed by women, the Tehran Emrouz newspaper reported on Thursday.
Iran to launch police stations for women in capital: report
World War III: cancelled
The Times – The new Iran intelligence report is not an excuse for a peace in our time’ moment
This just in: the Third World War has been cancelled. Iran, a founder member of the Axis of Evil, once deemed to be bent on world domination at the point of a nuclear weapon, turns out to have been about as threatening as a teddy bear. Well, an inoffensively named, non-Sudanese teddy bear, I should quickly emphasise.
Rice wins support for Iran sanctions
AP: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won support Thursday on Iran from two key European allies, France and Germany, whose leaders urged continued pressure on Tehran because of its nuclear program, saying the country remains a danger.
Don’t ask the CIA what’s going on in Teheran
Daily Telegraph: If generals are fated to prepare for the last war, intelligence agencies always bear in mind the last time they were proved wrong. The ghosts of Iraq’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction haunt America’s latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Intelligence may change, but Iran still a threat
Daily Telegraph – Leaders: Seldom can a single document have caused quite such a stir. The National Intelligence Estimate, compiled by the US government’s 16 intelligence agencies, has stood the conventional wisdom on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme on its head.
Intelligent intelligence
The Times – Leading Article: The National Intelligence Estimate, a consensus view of 16 American agencies, that Iran appears to have halted its drive to acquire nuclear weapons has wrongfooted politicians in both the West and the Middle East. Many of those trying to halt Iran’s efforts to build a bomb have been dismayed by what they see as a judgment that may lessen the pressure on Tehran.
Rice urges Russia to maintain pressure on Iran
Reuters: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged a skeptical Russia on Thursday to help maintain pressure on Iran, despite the release of a U.S. report which found Tehran halted its atomic weapons program in 2003.
China ponders its role amid Iran nuclear quandary
Reuters: Contention over Iran’s nuclear plans has thrown into sharp relief China’s uncertain role in the crisis as a big economic partner of the Middle Eastern power that is nonetheless reluctant to rile the United States.
Bush told in August that Iran nuke program ‘may be suspended’
CNN: President Bush was told in August that Iran’s nuclear weapons program “may be suspended,” the White House said Wednesday, which seemingly contradicts the account of the meeting given by Bush Tuesday.
The flaws in the Iran report
Washington Post – By John R. Bolton: Rarely has a document from the supposedly hidden world of intelligence had such an impact as the National Intelligence Estimate released this week. Rarely has an administration been so unprepared for such an event. And rarely have vehement critics of the “intelligence community” on issues such as Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction reversed themselves so quickly.
