Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Congress report faults U.S. intelligence on Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. intelligence community is ill-prepared to assess Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities and its intentions for developing weapons of mass destruction, a congressional report said on Wednesday.

Noting "significant gaps in our knowledge and understanding of the various areas of concern about Iran," the House Intelligence Committee staff report questioned whether the United States could even effectively engage in talks with Tehran on ways to diffuse tensions.

The Bush administration said it was handling the problem.

"The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is already taking steps along the lines the committee has recommended," said a spokeswoman, reading from a statement....

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After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which Washington said was aimed at rooting out weapons of mass destruction, huge gaps in America's intelligence-gathering capability were exposed....The House panel's report warned of similar inadequacies in the quality of U.S. intelligence on Iraq's neighbor Iran....

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