Yesterday a report was released by a Committee run by Rep. Pete Hoekstra that tore the IC a new butt. Basically it ripped our intelligence for it’s “Sweat Mint Tea” assessments of Iran.

Today the New York ‘Traitor’ Times tries to tie this rift into the same rift that that the Administration had with IC prior to Iraq.

“Some senior Bush administration officials and top Republican lawmakers are voicing anger that American spy agencies have not issued more ominous warnings about the threats that they say Iran presents to the United States.

Some policy makers have accused intelligence agencies of playing down Iran’s role in Hezbollah’s recent attacks against Israel and overestimating the time it would take for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

The complaints, expressed privately in recent weeks, surfaced in a Congressional report about Iran released Wednesday. They echo the tensions that divided the administration and the Central Intelligence Agency during the prelude to the war in Iraq.

The criticisms reflect the views of some officials inside the White House and the Pentagon who advocated going to war with Iraq and now are pressing for confronting Iran directly over its nuclear program and ties to terrorism, say officials with knowledge of the debate.

The dissonance is surfacing just as the intelligence agencies are overhauling their procedures to prevent a repeat of the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate ‚Äî the faulty assessment that in part set the United States on the path to war with Iraq.”

“Faulty intelligence estimate”. That of course was the total case at all on the NIE, but that’s the story the MSM made up from the beginning and repeated so long that people quote it like the Bible. That’s disturbing in itself, but the even greater concern is that the report shows that we still have some dead weight Joe Wilson types in the IC who wouldn’t see Iran as a threat if plums appeared over their pointy little heads.

“Earlier this year, the intelligence agencies put new procedures in place to help avoid the type of analysis that was contained in the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate about Iraq and to prevent another ‚ÄúCurveball‚Äù ‚Äî the code name of the Iraqi source who fed the United States faulty intelligence about Iraq‚Äôs biological weapons program. ‚ÄúI think that the intelligence community is being appropriately cautious,‚Äù said John E. McLaughlin, a former director of central intelligence.

“I think that what is going on is that people are holding themselves to a higher standard of evidence because of Iraq.”

Thomas Fingar, the deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, said analysts now had much more information about the sources of raw intelligence coming from the field.

“Analysts have to know more about the sources than was generally the case before the Iraq estimate,” Mr. Fingar said.

Analysts also are required to include in their reports more information about the chain of logic that led them to their conclusions about sensitive topics like Iran, North Korea and global terrorism — “showing your work,” as Mr. Fingar put it.

At the same time, Mr. Fingar dismissed the notion that intelligence analysts should try merely to connect random intelligence findings. “As a 40-year analyst, I’m offended by the notion of ‘connecting dots,’ ’’he said. “If you had enough monkeys you could do that.”

“Offended by the notion of connecting dots”, yeah Fingar, tell it to the familes of 3500 who perished in the WTC. Sorry to have you guys get off the golf course and do a little “footwork”. Iran is a threat bud, whether long or short term. Whether they develop nuke today or three years from now, it simply cannot be allowed to take place. How much more “evidence” do we need beyond the last 25 years of Iran outfitting and supporting not only Hezbollah, but other terrorist groups throughout the region? Just what are we looking for?

The “wait and see” diplomacy will not work in this dangerous world we live in today. When you see a cockroach in your house, it just indicates that that there is hundred more in the walls. Spraying the one, won’t kill the many. We simply cannot allow any tyrants to rule in any fashion in the world today – the world cannot afford more WTC, or Madrids or Londons. But allow this slug to rattle his saber and remain a threat is asking for more of the same.

It’s long past the time for estimates, it’s time for action.

UPDATE: Lefty blogs see Neocons in everything.  Sad.  Perhaps they should start a Ahmadinejad fan club or ask his website for a link.

UPDATE II: Be sure to visit AJ for more on the widening gap between the do-nothing until we glow IC and the Government that gets the job done.