by Rick Pearson
DES MOINES—Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Tuesday he was unfamiliar with the National Intelligence Estimate that reported that Iran had not had a program to develop nuclear weapons since 2003 and questioned the intelligence work behind it.
More Top Picks Bedding Sets
Asked by reporters if he had been briefed on the summary of the report, which was declassified and released Monday, Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, said “No.” Informed of its content by reporters, he said he agreed with President Bush, who said that Iran remains a threat.
Huckabee’s unfamiliarity with the NIE summary and his questioning of the conclusions reached by the 16 government agencies that prepared it could add to questions about whether the new GOP frontrunner in Iowa has the foreign affairs experience needed to serve as president—particular during a time of heightened Middle East tensions.”I have a serious concern if they were to be able to weaponize nuclear material, and I think we all should,” Huckabee said of Iran.
“I don’t know where the intelligence is coming from that says that they suspended the program and how credible that is versus the news that they actually are expanding it,” he said. “And then I’ve heard the last two weeks supposed reports that say that they are accelerating and could be having a reactor in a much shorter period of time than originally they thought.”
Huckabee acknowledged that due to mistakes in intelligence over whether Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction, a major factor in the U.S. invasion, has created a higher standard of proof for any action against Iran.
“There’s going to be a real anxiety for us to take any type of action without there being some very credible and almost irrefutable intelligence to validate our decision,” he said. At the same time, Huckabee said its possible that the nation could show timidity toward taking action in Iran, if necessary, because of the failures of Iraq intelligence.
“That would be unfortunate if we actually knew we needed to take action but were fearful of doing so because of getting burned in the Iraq situation,” he said. “That would be a serious challenge for us.”