A new US intelligence report sheds significant light on the Bush administration’s duplicity regarding Iran’s alleged nuclear threat.

Iran Halted Nuclear Bomb Program in 2003, U.S. Spy Agencies Say

By Jeff Bliss and Ken Fireman Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) — Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and probably hadn’t restarted it as of mid-2007, according to a new report from the U.S. intelligence community. The Iranians halted the program “primarily in response to international pressure,” and this decision “suggests Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged previously,” the intelligence agencies said. If Iran were to restart its program, it probably couldn’t enrich enough uranium for a nuclear weapon until late 2009, and even then is “very unlikely” to produce a bomb until the next decade, according to the National Intelligence Estimate, which is the consensus view of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. (Story.)

Here are the important things to remember as this story begins unfolding.

1: Bush has known about this report, one assumes, for the last four years.

2: Despite this knowledge, he set his noise machine about the task of justifying yet another run-up to yet another unjustified war based on still more falsified information. In the case of Iraq the Bushies have fought hard to convince us that they couldn’t have known all that evidenced was fudged – no, I’m not buying a word of it either – but here we seem to have caught the White House with its proverbial pants down. That’s not a pleasant image, I know, but right now we need some ugly pictures burned into our collective retinas.

3: Bush could have claimed victory, pointing to these developments as proof that his “doctrine” in the Middle East was driving positive results. But he didn’t. He chose to bury the truth so he could clamor for more unwinnable war.

This tells us a lot about George Bush’s real goals. If he wanted what he’s said he wanted (and remember, prior to our invasion of Iraq Saddam Hussein pretty much did everything he could possibly have done to prove he had no WMDs) then the findings of this report would have sufficed. What do we conclude from what he actually did, though?

Right. The real goal is war in the Middle East. I’ll leave you to speculate about what that means ultimately and whose interests are served.

One more thing, as an aside. Check what the AP did with this story:

US: Iran Still Able to Develop Nukes

By PAMELA HESS | Associated Press Writer

1:43 PM EST, December 3, 2007 WASHINGTON – Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but is continuing to enrich uranium, which means it may still be able to develop a weapon between 2010 and 2015, senior intelligence officials said Monday.

That headline tells us that either the AP is hiring monkeys (and not the smart ones, either) or they’ve handed over editorial responsibilities to Karl Rove’s towel boys.

Frankly, I’m about as disgusted with the AP as I am the White House…