America, Iran and faulty intelligence: Bernd Debusmann

www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService4/idUSN234748412008... sent by Fiore since 3 minutes "Iran is not in a revolutionary or even pre-revolutionary stage." That was the assessment of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in August 1978, at a time when Iran's ruler was America's closest ally in the Middle East. The Defense Intelligence Agency, a month later, predicted that the Shah of Iran, "is expected to remain actively involved in power over the next 10 years."Famous last words. The Shah fled into exile four months later. If U.S. intelligence on Iran was bad in the 1970s, when the United States had a sizable embassy and officials could move freely around the country, how is it now, after 28 years without official contacts and no American presence on the ground? Just as bad? Very bad?... [read full story]