Unlike Edwards, Clinton did not see fit to directly respond to today's National Intelligence Estimate questioning the existence of the much-hyped Iranian nuclear program. Instead, her campaign sent out a release from their "national security director":Statement from Lee Feinstein,Clinton Campaign National Security Director“The new declassified key judgments of the Iran NIE expose the latest effort by the Bush administration to distort intelligence to pursue its ideological ends. The assessment of the NIE vindicates the policy Senator Clinton will pursue as President: vigorous American-led diplomacy, close international cooperation, and effective economic pressure, with the prospect of carefully calibrated incentives if Iran addresses our concerns. Neither saber rattling nor unconditional meetings with Ahmadinejad will stop Iran's nuclear ambitions. Senator Clinton has the strength and experience to conduct the kind of vigorous diplomacy needed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.”Now compare that with John Edwards' statement:
“The new National Intelligence Estimate shows that George Bush and Dick Cheney's rush to war with Iran is, in fact, a rush to war. The new NIE finds that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that Iran can be dissuaded from pursuing a nuclear weapon through diplomacy. This is exactly the reason that we must avoid radical steps like the Kyl-Lieberman bill declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, which needlessly took us closer to war. And it’s why I have proposed that we pursue a comprehensive diplomatic approach instead.”One of these statements communicates the primary conclusions of the NIE, which is that the Iranian nuclear program has been dormant since 2003. The other doesn't say anything of the kind, and instead emphasizes the "vigorous diplomacy needed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons" and "Iran's nuclear ambitions." One, in other words, uses the report to ratchet down tensions on Iran, the other uses it as an excuse to look tough. This is, to say the very least, a disappointing performance from the Clinton campaign. This country does not need a Democratic candidate dedicated to hyping threats to in order to score political points or imply their ceaseless willingness to take the country to war.--Ezra Klein
