Neocons Never Have to Say Sorry

Bill Hartung has a great blog post at the Talking Points Memo Cafe today on reactions from Iran hawks to the new National Intelligence Estimate. Hartung writes: "Not only did they change their assessment, but the 16 intelligence agencies involved in the NIE had the decency to admit they had made a mistake. Not so for members of the 'get Iran' crowd like Michael Ledeen and John Bolton, who have reacted to the new findings with a combination of denial and outright fantasy."

Hartung notes that all of the spin from "get Iran" crowd would be entertaining if President Bush wasn't echoing some of the same points. "He has claimed that since Iran once had a nuclear weapons program, everything his administration has been doing thus far is just right. In fact, the new NIE should open the door to genuine negotations aimed at capping Tehran's enrichment program, even if it takes a while to get them on track. An approach that offers more pressure and more sanctions without offering Tehran a reasonable way forward -- along with threats that "all options are on the table" in dealing with its nuclear program -- may represent one of the few policies that could actually spur Iran to resume a nuclear weapons program."