US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
Bush backs 'full scope' of Iran findings
US President George W. Bush endorses the "full scope" of last month's US intelligence findings on Iran, the White House said Thursday after Bush seemed to distance himself from the report. "The president stands by the full scope of the findings in that they were put together by incredibly dedicated people that did their best work and put their best views out," spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters. On Tuesday, the president had emphasized that the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was crafted by "independent" spy agencies that "come to conclusions separate from what I may or may not want." And his chief spokeswoman, Dana Perino, refused to say that he endorsed the NIE's chief finding that Tehran shelved a nuclear weapons program in 2003, in what was seen as a blow to Washington's efforts to confront its archfoe. Media accounts of Bush's message to Middle East leaders during a week-long trip to the region cited anonymous officials as saying that he distanced himself from the NIE, which is the consensus of all 16 US spy agencies. "He does encourage people -- and that's the point that he made repeatedly on his trip -- to look at the full conclusions and implications for what the NIE asserted in those conclusions, and they include the fact that Iran had a weapons program," said Fratto. "Iran continues to move on two other components of what would be necessary to deliver a nuclear weapon, both on enrichment and on delivery mechanisms," said Fratto. "And that is a crucial fact that should be read the right way." The NIE found that the Islamic republic has defied international pressure including UN sanctions to freeze uranium enrichment, which can be a key step towards getting a nuclear weapon.
