Ha'aretz: "Government sources in Jerusalem told Haaretz Monday night that the Bush administration appears to have lost its sense of urgency regarding Iran's nuclear program, making a military strike in 2008 increasingly unlikely. The change in policy comes on the heels of the release Monday of the National Intelligence Estimate in Washington. The report, which discounted the likelihood that Iran is on a path to develop nuclear weapons soon, did not catch the Israeli leadership by surprise. During their visit to Washington last week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were briefed on the report." Presumably, around the time of the Annapolis talks, last Tuesday.

But then note this, from tomorrow's NYT:

One official pointed out that the chief American diplomat on the Iran question, Under Secretary of State R. Nicholas Burns, had just met with counterparts from Europe, Russia and China, and had seemed to make some headway on winning support for a third round of sanctions by the United Nations Security Council. The official said Mr. Burns could not divulge the intelligence findings at that meeting on Friday because Congress had not been briefed.

A friend points out: So the information could be divulged last week to at least one nation, before Congress? Update: A Hill staffer writes in, " ... The irony is that a majority of the Congress would probably insist on Israel being briefed first."

Posted by Laura at December 3, 2007 10:00 PM