NIE on Iran

This report has Henry Kissinger fighting mad and Iran still the enemy.

From Kissinger after parsing some of the detail of the NIE:

I have often defended the dedicated members of the intelligence community. This is why I am extremely concerned about the tendency of the intelligence community to turn itself into a kind of check on, instead of a part of, the executive branch. When intelligence personnel expect their work to become the subject of public debate, they are tempted into the roles of surrogate policymakers and advocates.

From Iraq:

A cache of Iranian-manufactured rockets was turned over to Coalition Forces based at FOB Delta Dec. 4.

Iraqi Civil Defense Corps personnel delivered 14 107 mm Iranian rockets and fuses to Kazakhstani Soldiers, said 1st Lt. Almaz Mukashev, the Kazakhstani liaison officer. The rockets were manufactured in 2006.

The Year in Review

Actually the Democrats in Control Year in Review, brought to you by Captain Ed.

It isn’t pretty for them.

This hasn’t just been a Do-Nothing Congress; it’s been a Disaster On The Hill.

And if the GOP had a decent candidate they wouldn’t be so scared right now.
The debate last night apparently sucked and “front runner”, Huckabee, the preacher is apparently lying through his teeth while trying to insult his rival.

(Huckabee yesterday tried to say he didn’t know much about Mormonism which is why he’s bringing up the questions he keeps bringing up. In reality Uncorrelated has him as a keynote speaker at the following convention for Southern Baptists:

In 1998, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) descended on Salt Lake City for their annual meeting. If you think that’s an unusual choice, you’d be right. The number of SBC members in Utah is negligible, but the message would be unmistakable. In spite of nearly identical political and social mores, the SBC disdained association with Latter-day Saints in Jerry Falwell’s abortive Moral Majority. As is custom for such annual meetings, there is a massive proselyting effort in the environs of the city, but for Salt Lake, the SBC produced a 50 minute video entitled, “the Mormon Puzzle” and distributed to ALL 40,000 Baptist congregations sending delegates to the meeting. In addition, the SBC also printed over 12,000 copies of “Mormonism Unmasked” The materials characterized Mormonism as a dangerous cult (a dehumanizing Evangelical perjorative) and a major threat to SBC interests. However it mainly instructed “messengers” on how to attack the beliefs of their Mormon targets.

Yeesh

Of course then there is the attempt at election fixing by Venezuela! What a bizarre story of Venezuelan agents caught with money to be used in an election in Miami. Hugo??

U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta in Miami said: “Today’s complaint alleges an effort by the agents of Venezuela to travel to the U.S. for the purpose of coercing our citizens to help conceal the true nature of a growing international scandal.”

Although documents did not identify which candidate was to receive the donation, federal law enforcement officials confirmed the funds were intended for the campaign of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who went on to win the election.

UPDATE: drudge has the Venezuela story only with a twist where we’re the bad guys now and somehow it had to do with the Argentinian election.