The IAEA has some questions, which may be difficult for Iranian President Ahmedinejad to answer. The answer I anticipate is some revisionist history piece that gets us all giggling at how stupid he is, while Iran continues to make bombs.

VIENNA/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. investigators want Iran to explain an organizational chart linking projects to process uranium, test explosives and modify a missile cone for a nuclear payload, diplomats briefed on the matter say.

They said a top U.N. nuclear watchdog official last week gave a detailed presentation of intelligence alleging illicit atomic “weaponization studies” by Iran and naming the man who ran them for the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.

In a written summary given to Reuters of the presentation, they said Iran had refused to let inspectors interview Mohsen Fakrizadeh or visit sites where the experiments took place.

The summary also confirmed leaks that the briefing for the first time indicated Iran continued the three projects into 2004, calling into question a U.S. intelligence estimate in December that said Iran shelved weaponization research in 2003.

Any takers on a bet this is going to be yet another CIA failure?

Living in an open carry state, I have deferred getting a concealed carry permit. However, more people seem to be uncomfortable with me being openly armed while I do my banking and shopping. It got to the point that I quit carrying at all. At the same time, more people seem to feel that people doing their banking and shopping make nice accomplices for their suicide plans.

I am taking a concealed carry permit class today and will not be near my computer. It is probably a good idea to take a day off now and then anyway.

I am a little ashamed that I have not been to the range in a few months, but I have not been armed for a few months either. If I am going to regularly carry a weapon again, I need to go to the range at least once a month or so.  That’s more often than a lot of cops go.

The most recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran expressed with some confidence that Iran had in 2003 halted active work on building a nuclear warhead.

There are still questions on whether or not this is actually solid intelligence, but I assume for now that it is. It does not obviate our need to be cautious with Iran. We should be investing a great deal of resources into better intelligence, as well as active diplomacy with Iran. This includes the gamut of options from sanctions to bi-lateral talks. It does not, at this time, include military operations - in my opinion.

That being said, I found this article interesting. It coincides with my views on Iran generally and the course the US should take with regards to the NIE.

Foreign Policy: How has the release of the recent U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear program changed the tenor of the Iran debate?

Dmitri Trenin: It allows for a broader range of views. I think that the importance of this debate is not to discuss the technical issues, but rather to use the technical issues as a platform to a higher plane of strategizing about Iran. I’m not an American and I can only say so much being a foreigner, but I think the focus should be on U.S. policy, rather than on what Iran is doing. I am struck by people debating what Iran is doing, and not thinking enough, in all due respect, about what the United States should be doing. In other words, people are prepared to give Iran the initiative, rather than to seize the initiative.

FP: What’s the view from abroad about the new estimate?

DT: I think the view from here is that the intelligence community, heavily battered over Iraq, has thrown a monkey wrench into what they believe could be the possibility of another major blunder. [That possibility] is that strong-willed persons within the administration would persuade the president to finish business, and not pass the Iranian issue onto his successor. But there’s only so much that you can see from several thousand miles away from Washington.

The emphasis is mine. I point this out because I respect a view from this standpoint. Trenin holds views much in line with mine on several topics, and I am an American. Much to the distaste of some of my acquaintances, Trenin and I share views on Putin.

I predict emails and comments regarding Trenin’s motives, qualifications, or integrity, however, we often judge a person’s intelligence by the amount one agrees with us. Trenin is obviously a genius.

It is quite possible Iran has halted nuclear weapon construction in order to garner favor with the US. This does not mean to suggest Iran is going through any radical shift in ideals - but we have to focus on the goal of Iran in the Middle East. Iran wants to be the influence in that region. If America gains enough support in the international community, that goal is finished for Iran. Especially in light of the vast amounts of US money going into Iraq. Iran coming into the fold geopolitically, so to speak, is a possible strategy to ensure Iran is not bypassed as the Mid-East power base.

On the other hand - it this is going to take some very hard work to find out - this could just be a way of defusing the pressure being brought to bear on Iran, while they secretly finish their weapons work with enriched uranium.  Time, and hopefully better intelligence than we currently have, will tell.