Our Long National Nightmare Continues (NDC)

U.N. Inspectors Dispute Iran Report By House Panel

Paper on Nuclear Aims Called Dishonest

By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 14, 2006; A17

U.N. inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear program angrily complained
to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday
about a recent House committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling
parts of the document "outrageous and dishonest" and offering evidence
to refute its central claims.

Officials of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency
said in a letter that the report contained some "erroneous, misleading
and unsubstantiated statements." ...

The agency noted five major errors in the committee's 29-page report,
which said Iran's nuclear capabilities are more advanced than either
the IAEA or U.S. intelligence has shown.

Among the committee's assertions is that Iran is producing
weapons-grade uranium at its facility in the town of Natanz. The IAEA
called that "incorrect," noting that weapons-grade uranium is enriched
to a level of 90 percent or more. Iran has enriched uranium to 3.5
percent under IAEA monitoring.

When the congressional report was released last month, Hoekstra said
his intent was "to help increase the American public's understanding of
Iran as a threat." Spokesman Jamal Ware said yesterday that Hoekstra
will respond to the IAEA letter.

Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.), a committee member, said the report was
"clearly not prepared in a manner that we can rely on." He agreed to
send it to the full committee for review, but the Republicans decided
to make it public before then, he said in an interview.

The report was never voted on or discussed by the full committee. Rep.
Jane Harman (Calif.), the vice chairman, told Democratic colleagues in
a private e-mail that the report "took a number of analytical shortcuts
that present the Iran threat as more dire -- and the Intelligence
Community's assessments as more certain -- than they are."

Privately, several intelligence officials said the committee report
included at least a dozen claims that were either demonstrably wrong or
impossible to substantiate. Hoekstra's office said the report was
reviewed by the office of John D. Negroponte, the director of national
intelligence.

Negroponte's spokesman, John Callahan, said in a statement that his
office "reviewed the report and provided its response to the committee
on July 24, '06." He did not say whether it had approved or challenged
any of the claims about Iran's capabilities.

---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091302052.html

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