In The Dark, Ctd

A reader points to a recent NPR piece and writes:

Eli's article only tells half the story. Our inability to discern what is going on in Iran stems more from the fact intel is hard if not impossible to gather if you have no diplomatic relations with a country, making it virtually impossible for the CIA to actually do its job and collect intel on the ground. This is why bluster and bellicosity is costly in terms of America's national security, since the neocon tendency to discard diplomacy basically severs a crucial appendage when diplomatic relations are cast asunder.

-- CB