The BBC on the NIE

BBC correspondent Justin Webb quotes a former-White-House source as saying "the rug has been pulled out from under the Bush administration" and "the probability that the administration can take action, if they wanted to take action, has been significantly reduced."

(To which I say, Yay!)

"How could they have got it so wrong before?" Matt Frei asked an analyst.

The analyst, whose name I missed, replied: "There has been a change in the leadership, and this may be a very good sign that the agencies are now more professional. The agencies are now protecting the analysts from the kind of pressure that distorted the intelligence before." And he added, when asked if this NIE might err on the side of caution, "That's always a possibility, but this NIE agrees with what independent analysts, including myself, has been saying for years. This regime is not the new Nazi Germany with a group of mad mullahs bringing about the new armageddon. It is subject to the same pressures as any other country."

In other words: it's time to talk to Iran.