Even assuming that the analysis itself was solid - which it wasn't - how does a reasonable human being admit that Iran has a fully-constituted weapons-level nuclear program and then decide that they're not a threat? When the report came out, Cliff May got an email about how the conclusions were engineered by two State Department washouts who had managed to grab control of the report. Yup:

Critics of the NIE have seized on the fact that career government officials who had battled with conservatives earlier in the administration on policy issues have now migrated to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which coordinated the writing of the estimate. "The problem is not the nature of the intelligence, it's the nature of the presentation. This NIE was presented with a clear intention to deceive and to redirect foreign policy," wrote Danielle Pletka, vice president for foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute, in an e-mail. "I have no doubt that these people believe they are protecting the nation from the President, but our constitution doesn't contemplate the non-proliferation center at the ODNI governing U.S. national security policy."

Sure they've endangered the entire planet by handcuffing the Commander in Chief in an ongoing proxy war against a genocidal regime that has repeatedly declared its intention to use nuclear weapons against a US ally. But at least they landed a sucker punch against conservatives! Career government officials indeed.

References:
* Obligatory Followup To Obligatory Post About The NIE Report - The NIE Unbelievably Punted On The Single Most Important Iranian Nuke Question (Plus: Israel Looking To React Now That Bush Is Handcuffed And Iranian Hardliners Are Crowing About Victory) [MR]
* Obligatory Post About The NIE Report - Anti-War Partisans Switch From Sophisticatedly Undermining War Effort To Being The Bestest And Most Objective Analysts Ever. Except Not. [MR]
* Review of Iran Intelligence to Be Sought [WaPo]

Previously:
* Syria's Been Building Their Nuclear Reactor Since 2003 And The State Department Still Tried To Stop Israel From Taking It Out (Plus: Awesome IDF Bombing Raid Just Got Filled With Even More Awesome)
* US State Department Has Been Funding Hamas Terrorists For Years. No Kidding.
* State Department Tries To Cleanse Obviously Illegal "No Jews Allowed" Application But Is Too Fucking Stupid To Turn Off Track Changes