Week in Review: Washington, D.C.

Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007 | 6:54 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Shelley Berkley is among Congress' most hawkish Democrats when it comes to the nation's foreign policy on Iran.

She has spoken out against Iran's hostile attitude toward the United States and Israel. And this year she persuaded her party to exclude a bill's provision that would have prohibited Bush from using force against Iran.

But she won't support Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign's call for a commission to review the latest intelligence estimate on Iran, which backpedaled from an earlier analysis that said Iran was going nuclear.

The Iran debate has been simmering all year in Washington. The Bush administration's escalating rhetoric on Iran's nuclear intentions led some lawmakers and anti-war groups to believe the administration was positioning itself to launch another war. The Senate passed a resolution that critics said unnecessarily laid the groundwork for military action. Bush didn't ease anxiety when he said Iran could cause World War III.

But the intelligence community released a report this month that disputed the White House contention that Iran was advancing its nuclear weapons program. The report said Iran had abandoned those ambitions in 2003. The findings startled Washington and reignited criticism that the Bush administration had been cherry-picking intelligence on Iran, just as many believe it did in making the case for the war in Iraq.

But conservative Republicans were not convinced of the findings, and Ensign is leading their challenge. He is calling for a bipartisan commission to investigate the report and render a second opinion.

"Iran is one of the biggest threats in the world today, and it is critical that we get this right," Ensign spokesman Tory Mazzola said. "It will set policy for years to come."

Berkley is not joining him. She believes Iran remains a threat but said launching an "investigation against the investigators" unnecessarily politicizes the process.

"I do not have rose-colored glasses when it comes to the threat of Iran," she said. "Let's put our efforts into defanging Iran and working out a solution to this very serious problem."

The report, she added, "gives us an opportunity to step back and work with our allies, both in Europe and the Middle East, to come up with a diplomatic solution."

Berkley had also just received an office visit from a handful of MoveOn.org anti-war protesters, including Las Vegas resident Sue Brooks, who delivered a few dozen signatures on a petition urging Congress to remind the president that he has no authority to strike Iran without congressional approval.

Ensign's efforts initially received a lukewarm reception from the White House.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters, "I just don't know if there's a need to have a second look at it."

Perino said the 16 agencies that make up the intelligence community "came together, they assessed all of the intelligence. They spent a good deal of time checking it.

"So they were very thorough," she said.

That said, she added that the work of the intelligence communities continues and "any time that we can get more information, that's better."

Ensign's office said the senator would press forward, undeterred by the White House's public reaction, "because it is the right thing to do."

He recently went to the White House to discuss the proposal, meeting with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Ensign plans to introduce his bill in the new year.

Given its uncertain future, Berkley may never even have to weigh in.