In The Washington Post, John Bolton, the once US feisty "bomb 'em anyway" Ambassador to the UN, analyses, in his usual manner, the NIE on Iran's intentions (or not) to develop a nuke:

The Flaws In the Iran Report

By John R. Bolton
Thursday, December 6, 2007; Page A29

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.

All this shows that we not only have a problem interpreting what the mullahs in Tehran are up to, but also a more fundamental problem: Too much of the intelligence community is engaging in policy formulation rather than "intelligence" analysis, and too many in Congress and the media are happy about it. President Bush may not be able to repair his Iran policy (which was not rigorous enough to begin with) in his last year, but he would leave a lasting legacy by returning the intelligence world to its proper function. 

....

That such a flawed product could emerge after a drawn-out bureaucratic struggle is extremely troubling. While the president and others argue that we need to maintain pressure on Iran, this "intelligence" torpedo has all but sunk those efforts, inadequate as they were. Ironically, the NIE opens the way for Iran to achieve its military nuclear ambitions in an essentially unmolested fashion, to the detriment of us all. 

Bush 'cannot recall' CIA videos

President Bush insists that the US does not use torture
US President George W Bush has said he has "no recollection" of the existence of video tapes of CIA interrogations and the plan to destroy them.

The CIA says it wiped two tapes of interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects to protect the identities of its agents.

But human rights groups accuse it of destroying evidence of practices that may be tantamount to torture.

A US Senate committee has promised a thorough investigation into the history of the making and wiping of the tapes.

Mr Bush continued to have confidence in CIA Director Michael Hayden, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

The president "did not remember" being told of the tapes prior to Thursday, she said.

The CIA confirmed on Thursday allegations in the New York Times that two tapes were destroyed in 2005.

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Gus: since the President cannot recall the CIA videos of people being tortured by the CIA, and has been told by the CIA that it does not do "torture", but practice rendition (whatever that is), inquisition, water-boarding and robust questioning with barking mad dogs half an inch away from the family jewels, etc... , then he believes "the US does not do torture..." So I believe him, the poor petal... No-one tells him what's going on...

France's oldest man, a World War I veteran who refused a medal and spoke powerfully about the horrors of war, has died at 110, leaving just one veteran alive from the conflict.

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Gus: George W Bush should be impeached for imposing on the world and especially Iraq a war that had no reason to be, except for lies and a greedy whim. As the old man described patriotism as "a way of making people swallow anything" and war "as absurd and useless". "Nothing can justify it, nothing," we should reflect on the comfy lying US president who is ready to sacrifice US troops lives to create little profitable bellicose messes under the illusions of necessity... George Bush should resign forthwith. Unfortunately the Vice president, Cheney, is worse than his midget-bushit and Cheney should be thrown out at the same time...

A vacuum at the White House would be better than two silly greedy men.