Here we go again…

Cherry-picked intelligence,  exagerating facts,  crappy (or non existent) intel sources, and of don’t forget the most important part of the Republican Lie Machine… belittle, insult, and refute the claims of the people who are ACTUALLY ON THE GROUND and know the truth.

Sound familiar?  Have a feeling of De-Ja-Vu perhaps?

From SFGATE.COM:

U.N. inspectors challenge House nuclear report on Iran
‘Outrageous and dishonest’ claims, officials complain 

(09-14) 04:00 PDT Washington — U.N. inspectors investigating Iran’s nuclear program angrily complained Wednesday to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman about a recent House committee report on Iran’s capabilities, calling parts of the document “outrageous and dishonest” and offering evidence to refute its central claims.

Officials of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency said in a letter that the report contained some “erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated statements.” The letter, signed by a senior director at the agency, was addressed to Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee that issued the report, and a copy was hand-delivered to Gregory Schulte, the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA in Vienna.

The IAEA openly clashed with the Bush administration on prewar assessments of alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Relations all but collapsed when the agency revealed that the White House had based some allegations about an Iraqi nuclear program on forged documents.

After no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, the IAEA came under additional criticism for taking a cautious approach on Iran, which the White House says is trying to build nuclear weapons in secret. At one point, the administration orchestrated a failed campaign to remove the IAEA’s director, Mohamed ElBaradei, who later won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Wednesday’s letter, a copy of which was provided to the Washington Post, was the first time the IAEA has publicly rebutted U.S. allegations about its Iran investigation. The agency noted five major errors in the Hoekstra committee’s 29-page report, which claimed Iran’s nuclear capabilities are more advanced than the IAEA or U.S. intelligence has shown.

Among the committee’s assertions is that Iran is currently producing weapons-grade uranium at its facility in the town of Natanz. The IAEA called that “incorrect,” noting that weapons-grade uranium is enriched to a level of 90 percent or more. Iran has enriched uranium to 3.5 percent and did so under IAEA monitoring.

When the congressional report was released last month, Hoekstra said his intent was “to help increase the American public’s understanding of Iran as a threat.” His spokesman Jamal Ware said Wednesday that Hoekstra would respond to the IAEA letter.

Committee member Rush Holt, D-N.J., said the Hoekstra report was “clearly not prepared in a manner that we can rely on.” He agreed to send it to the full committee for review, but the Republicans decided to make it public before then, he said.

(more here)