Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Huckabee as Deer in the Headlights Trusts hearsay over NIE

Juan Cole 12/06/2007

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

Gov. Mike Huckabee did not know about the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran when asked about it on Wednesday. It had caused a furor in Washington because it concluded that Iran had halted any weapons-related experiments in 2003.

It is not such a big scandal that Huckabee hadn’t heard the news. When you are traveling and out among people, often you don’t, until you get back to the hotel that night. I can testify to that myself.

What is the scandal is that Huckabee had been briefed by someone to opposite conclusions from those of the NIE and had swallowed it hook line and sinker.

He told a reporter for Politico.com:

‘ I don’t know where the intelligence is coming from that says they have suspended the program or how credible that is versus the view that they actually are expanding it. … And I’ve heard, the last two weeks, supposed reports that they are accelerating it and it could be having a reactor in a much shorter period of time than originally been thought.
‘

So here’s what is troubling. Huckabee puts what he’s “heard” above the findings of the 16 US intelligence agencies. And, he seems to be confused that the problem with Iran is that it is building nuclear reactors. Reactors can be used for peaceful energy generation. It is if they were building a bomb that anyone should be concerned. The reactors at Bushehr cannot easily be put to bomb making purposes.

So yes, he could get behind on the news. But he doesn’t a) show good judgment in valuing right wing political gossip over an extensively vetted professional intelligence report (which is corroborated by the International Atomic Energy Agency). And b) he doesn’t seem very well informed about the nuclear issue.

Not ready for prime time.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • The Day Evin Prison Burned: Why Israel's Attack Crossed a Moral Line
  • The Assault on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: The US v. Canada
  • How Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City mayoral Primary could Ripple across the Country
  • Netanyahu's 'New Middle East:' Same old Colonialism
  • How Israel's Domestic Crises and Netanyahu's Power Projection are Reshaping the Middle East

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved