Last Sunday, the Bush administration finally presented its long-delayed intelligence briefing on Iranian arms shipments into Iraq. Prior to the presentation, a U.S. official told the New York Times that it had been delayed because they were "trying to scrub" the intelligence, adding "the last thing we want to be accused of is cherry-picking."

While much of the information had previously been known, the highlight of the presentation - as reported by ABC World News - was that it was "the first time military officials...made the link to the highest level of Iran's government."

But the briefing "offered no evidence" to substantiate that claim. After coming under intense scrutiny for an intelligence presentation that was approved by the highest levels of the administration, the White House has slowly backed off its claims of Iranian government involvement.

Yesterday, CNN reported that the White House is blaming the anonymous intelligence briefer who presented the Iran intelligence. According to CNN's Ed Henry, the White House says the anonymous intelligence briefer went "a little too far" in stating the evidence.

In a press conference yesterday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace "confirmed that bomb-making materials were coming from Iran, but he pointedly left open the question of whether the flow was the product of freelance thuggery, or dictated by senior officials in Tehran."