This week the U.S. NIE stated clearly that we have no evidence, zero, that Iran has a nuclear weapons program in operation, and hasn’t had one since 2003. These NIE’s aren’t slapped together overnight by a bunch of seven year-olds, they’re produced by the National Intelligence Council, express the coordinated judgments of the US Intelligence Community made up of 16 intelligence agencies, and thus represent the most authoritative assessment of the Director of National Intelligence (who was appointed by the president) with respect to a particular national security issue (Wikipedia). NIE’s aren’t some frivolous drivel that should be shrugged off or ignored. So why then did our president instantly react by publicly disregarding the NIE (CNN, BBC) and saying the report compiled by his own government “doesn’t do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world — quite the contrary.” Why? Because Mr. Bush is a fucking bastard, hell-bent on expanding his war no matter what anyone says. As Barack Obama said yesterday during the Democratic NPR debate,

It is absolutely clear that this administration and President Bush continue to not let facts get in the way of his ideology.

So here’s what the rest of the world is seeing right now: the U.S. government has released a high-level report stating that Iran has no nuclear weapons program and is not a nuclear threat. The U.S. President says he doesn’t believe his own intelligence agencies or the DNI that he appointed, that the report changes nothing and that we need to be ready to attack Iran. To the rest of the world, we’re a 280lb. schizophrenic gorilla with a backpack full of nukes in command of the largest military force in history. And we’re supposed to be the beacon of democracy, freedom and humanity. No wonder everyone is simultaneously terrified and outraged by the shit we’re doing.

This fuckstick is still the commander-in-chief for another 411 days and can order military action at-will without the initial approval of Congress. That’s plenty of time for “surgical strikes” on Iran or any other provocative action that will slingshot us into yet another war. Is that really the best we can hope for? That Bush won’t do something incredibly stupid (again) before he leaves office?

UPDATE: Bush was told about this NIE report last year, but claims otherwise. There’s also some very well-grounded assertions that Cheney fought tooth and nail to keep the report under wraps for as long as possible.