Biden calls Bush's phony Iran claims a charade

"If that's true, he has the most incompetent staff in modern American history and he's one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history."

Joe Biden on Tuesday called President Bush's tough-guy comments about Iran's nuclear program a "charade" in light of a newly-released assessment of Tehran's nuclear capabilities.

The latest National Intelligence Estimate said that Iran halted its development of a nuclear weapon four years ago, the just released report has proved that Bush has been deceiving the American people into believing that Iran was still developing nuclear weapons.

President Bush claimed Tuesday that he only learned of the 2003 intelligence assessment last week. In remarks at a White House press conference, the president also said the report shows that Iran could again try to acquire nuclear weapons and remains dangerous, adding that the international community should keep up its pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

"I refuse to believe that," said Biden, speaking on the campaign trail in Iowa. "If that's true, he has the most incompetent staff in modern American history and he's one of the most incompetent presidents in modern American history."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman linked the administration's conduct to its actions before the Iraq war, saying that "for this president to knowingly disregard or once again misrepresent intelligence about the issue of war and peace, I find outrageous. This is exactly what he did, exactly what he did in the run-up to the war in Iraq, in consistently exaggerating the intelligence."

"If past is prologue, I do not trust this administration," said Biden. "I do not trust them to level with us. I do not trust them to tell us the truth." The senator has said that if the administration goes to war with Iran, President Bush should be impeached.

Alaska Weather