The Battle over Battle Damage Assessment at Fordo

Commentary

There are some questions being raised over the absolute confidence that the damage at the Fordo nuclear site in Iran was actually destroyed.  A solidly reliable source of Fake News, CNN, has now assumed the role of expert “Battle Damage Assessor”. Anyone can be a Battle Damage Assessor – it is very similar to being a “Sniper Profiler” in the 2002 Washington D.C. Sniper Episode – a conveyor belt of “Sniper Profilers” appeared out of nowhere flooding the airwaves with commentary and descriptions that proved to be wildly inaccurate.

CNN reported on their view of the Battle Damage Assessment (BDA):

“The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by seven people briefed on it.

The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes, one of the sources said.”

CNN continued on:

“Two of the people familiar with the assessment said Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed. One of the people said the centrifuges are largely “intact.” Another source said that the intelligence assessed enriched uranium was moved out of the sites prior to the US strikes.

“So the (DIA) assessment is that the US set them back maybe a few months, tops,” this person added.”

Karoline Leavitt responded like a flamethrower against CNN:

“This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community. The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

There are several matters that come to mind with the contrived effort of CNN to assert themselves as the self-appointed Gatekeepers of truth for BDA.

First, CNN implies they talked to two people familiar with the DIA Assessment.  I frankly give low confidence in the CNN reporting that indicates they actually interviewed two people that have read the DIA assessment.  Imaginary sources nor vague chatter overheard while getting coffee at the Pentagon Food Court are not admissible.

Second, it looks like we may still have Deep State Leakers.  We need to use James O’Keefe more robustly and stop counting on Full Scope Polygraphs.  James seems to get far better results outing Deep Staters and leakers than the feeble Counter-Intelligence enterprise which has been woke-ified into worthlessness.  When the Israeli’s handed over their earlier attack plans on Iran in 2024 after incessant badgering by Biden National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, almost immediately the Top Secret Israeli plans were handed to Iran by a Full Scope Polygraphed Central Intelligence Agency Officer Asif Rahman who’s now in prison.  We get far better Return on Investment from James than the heavy over-spend on the Polygraph program which benefits Beltway Bandits but appears to routinely fail to catch woke Deep Staters who lie and beat the system.

Third, the nominee to be the Counter-Intelligence Executive for the Director of National Intelligence and the entire U.S. Government, George Wesley Street, is still languishing in the Senate.  This is the position and person who can revamp the counter-intelligence community to be far more effective.

Fourth, it was legacy media like CNN who previously were misrepresenting Tulsi Gabbard’s statements on the Iranian nuclear program and advancing the notion that the Iranian’s did not have a nuclear program.  So now CNN is pointing out that something that did not exist has not been destroyed?  I’m confused.

While President Trump was at the NATO Summit being received as a conquering hero and peacemaker while the NATO Nations suddenly snapped into conformance of 5% of GDP spend for defense, the White House released another burst of jellified gasoline onto corrupt legacy media in regard to the topic of Iranian nuclear program BDA, with these statements from key figures who know better:

“Vice President JD Vance: “I can say to the American people with great confidence that they are much further away from a nuclear program today than they were 24 hours ago. That was the objective of the mission, to destroy that Fordow nuclear site, and of course, do some damage to the other sites as well, but we feel very confident that the Fordow nuclear site was substantially set back, and that was our goal.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth: “Based on everything we have seen — and I’ve seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons. Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly. The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the President and the successful mission.”

Secretary Hegseth: “Given the 30,000 pounds of explosions and the capability of those munitions, it was DEVASTATION underneath Fordow … Any assessment that tells you otherwise is speculating with other motives.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan “Razin” Caine: “Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction. More than 125 US aircraft participated in this mission, including B2 stealth bombers, multiple flights of fourth and fifth generation fighters, dozens and dozens of air refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine, and a full array of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as hundreds of maintenance and operational professionals.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “The Iranian program — the nuclear program — today looks nothing like it did just a week ago … That story is a false story and it’s one that really shouldn’t be re-reported because it doesn’t accurately reflect what’s happening.” “

I read a report from someone this morning who had spent years making assessments of the Pakistani and North Korean underground nuclear tests.  To summarize the detail in the report very simply, it is their BDA assessment that what ever existed at Fordo is trapped, incinerated, destroyed, or unusable.  Once more, President Trump is correct, a higher accuracy rating than Rush Limbaugh.

All viewpoints are personal and do not reflect the viewpoints of any organization.

 

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