What's Next for the US and Iran?
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President Bush says it's up to Iran to avoid international sanctions,
but the latest Intelligence Estimate will make his case harder to make
with western Europe, Russia and China. We look at the prospects and
hear more about how and why the Administration released a report that
contradicted its own policies. Also, habeus corpus gets its day in court--again, and a medical mystery may have been solved: why does the flu season always happen in winter?
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Making News
Habeus Corpus Gets Its Day in Court...Again ()
Lawyers for inmates at Guantánamo Bay were back in the US Supreme Court today, demanding that the government provide some basis for their clients' continued imprisonment. That's habeus corpus, guaranteed to every American by the Constitution. James Oliphant is national legal correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.
Guests:
- James Oliphant: National Legal Correspondent, Chicago Tribune
Links:
Main Topic
New Intelligence on Iran's Nuclear Program ()
US intelligence agencies now believe that Iran stopped trying to build nuclear weapons four years ago. The "military option" appears to be off the table. President Bush's effort to increase sanctions against Iran is still going strong, but the latest intelligence estimate may undermine that, too. In Iran today, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the latest US Intelligence Estimate a "victory" for his claim that Iran is not building nuclear weapons. He did not mention the finding that there was such a program up until 2003. Mohamed elBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency says Iran is "somewhat vindicated" but that there still are "lingering concerns." Have 16 intelligence agencies declared their independence from political influence? Has the President turned his back on the neo-cons who wanted to follow the war in Iraq with attacks on Iran?
Guests:
- Barbara Slavin: Senior Fellow, United States Institute for Peace, @barbaraslavin1
- David Albright: Director, Institute for Science and International Security
- Najmeh Bozorgmehr: Tehran Correspondent, Financial Times
- Robert Baer: former CIA Field Officer
- Victor Davis Hanson: Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Links:
- Hanson's article on Iran, Iraq
- Baer's article on the possibility that Bush was behind the Iran report
- Bozorgmehr's article on new US intelligence
- Slavin's 'Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US, and the Twisted Path to Confrontation'
- Bush's October press conference on Iran, WWIII
- Bush's December press conference on Iran, NIE
Reporter's Notebook
Researchers Discover Why Flu Travels in Cold Weather ()
Influenza is an Italian word from the 18th century, and some historians say it's part of a phrase, influenza di freddo, or "influence of the cold." In any case, flu season tends to be in the winter. In the northern latitudes, that's November to March; in southern latitudes, it's from May until September, which is their winter. In the tropics, there is not much flu at all. Researchers have always wondered why and now they think there's an answer. Dr. Samira Mubareka is co-author of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine's report into the connection between airborne flu and seasonality.
Guests:
- Samira Mubareka: Infectious Disease Doctor, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
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