NUCLEAR WINTER.

NUCLEAR WINTER. Now that's the Republican Party I know and love! Hill GOPers and The Weekly Standard have long been on a crusade to declassify captured Iraqi documents in the hope that somewhere, there's a pony -- some sort of evidence of WMD programs -- amidst the manure. So now the Republicans in Congress, fresh from alleging on the basis of no evidence that the reason the CIA hasn't found WMD is because it's in league with al-Qaeda, lean on the intelligence community to do so, right before the election. What happens?

But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq�s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials.

The IAEA is worried the documents, which go beyond what's typically out there in terms of technical nuclear-weapons know-how, would aid Iran in its nuclear quest. How's that for irony? Says a former Energy Department nuclear expert, "For the U.S. to toss a match into this flammable area is very irresponsible." Guess he's in league with al-Qaeda as well! No response from the Standard just yet, but at the Corner, Michael Ledeen promises to talk to his imaginary friend to construct his response.

--Spencer Ackerman