Iran Says IAEA Atom Report Shows US Charges Wrong
VIENNA - Iran’s uranium enrichment program is operating well below capacity and is far from producing nuclear fuel in significant amounts, according to a confidential U.N. nuclear watchdog report obtained by Reuters.
A senior Iranian nuclear official said the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) report showed U.S. suspicions about Tehran’s nuclear intentions were baseless. 
Officials familiar with the report said the IAEA could open future inquiries into Iran’s atomic activity if new suspicions arose, even after Tehran answers questions about the program under a transparency deal reached this month.
Western leaders suspect Iran wants to build atom bombs, not generate electricity, and were alarmed when Tehran said in April it had reached “industrial capacity” to enrich uranium.
But the IAEA report said Tehran remained far short of that threshold. Iran had just under 2,000 centrifuges divided into 12 cascades, or interlinked units, of 164 machines each refining uranium at its underground Natanz plant as of August 19, it said.
A 13th cascade was being run test-run empty, another was stationary undergoing tests under vacuum and two more cascades were being assembled, said the report, sent to the IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors and U.N. Security Council members.
“Iran made a fast start but then there was a leveling off,” said a senior U.N. official versed in the IAEA’s findings. “We don’t know the reasons, but the slow pace continues.”
The report’s detail on new Iranian cooperation with inspectors and Tehran’s lack of significant enrichment progress are likely to blunt Washington’s push for painful sanctions.
Western diplomats fear Iran scored a victory in its deal with the IAEA by allowing it to answer questions one by one, prolonging the process and foiling more punitive U.N. action.
Russia, a Security Council veto-holder which does not think Iran poses an imminent threat to world peace, opposes more sanctions while Tehran’s rapprochement with the IAEA moves on.
DISCREPANCIES
The report countered impressions gleaned by Western diplomats from the August 21 pact that Iran had negotiated immunity to further IAEA investigations after existing issues were resolved, which officials hoped would happen by year-end.
The official said it was unclear if Iran’s halting enrichment progress was due to technical problems or political restraint to blunt U.S. sanctions moves.
The report also recapped the phased plan Iran agreed with the IAEA 10 days ago to resolve questions about the scope of its nuclear activity. It detailed how the IAEA had settled one issue already — past small-scale experiments with plutonium.
But the report made clear the cooperation pact by itself was not enough to give Tehran a clean bill of health.
As long as Iran refused to resume allowing wider-ranging, inspections of sites not declared to be nuclear, under the IAEA’s Additional Protocol, the agency would be unable to verify Iran had no secret military nuclear facility somewhere.
“Iran would need to continue to build confidence about the scope and nature of its present and future nuclear program. Confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of (this)…, the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities, (requires) implementation of the Additional Protocol.”
U.N. officials also said Iran did not seek in talks on the plan to condition its implementation on no tough U.N. sanctions but Iranian leaders have raised such a linkage in public.
That raised Western concerns Iran has no intent to answer thornier questions and may drag matters out indefinitely. The U.N. has already imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran.
IAEA safeguards director Olli Heinonen, who has led agency negotiations with Iran, also deflected concern of Western diplomats assessing the transparency plan that the IAEA had not ensured Iran would provide proof for its answers.
“Iran is now facing a litmus test to provide answers in a timely manner to our questions. It’s important that Iran provides access to documentation, persons, and equipment to help us verify the answers,” he told reporters on Thursday.
A senior U.N. official familiar with IAEA-Iranian contacts said if Iran reneged or stalled, “it will come back and hit them in the face (politically).
“But if (tougher) sanctions come, our process will face a setback at a minimum, if not a halt,” he said, reflecting IAEA concerns that U.S.-led efforts to escalate penalties could only corner nationalistic Iran and goad it to freeze out inspectors.
© Reuters 2007.
Yeah, well try telling this to Bush/Cheney and their ‘Christian’ supporters.
I doubt this will make the MSM. Even if it does, the media will probably spin it so people will remain in the fog of confusion.
Hello Kem & claudius.
Hey, regardless, this seems like good news. The word is getting out.
I also think some christian folk might start coming round, maybe even some of their so-called leaders.
Incidently, Billy Graham, i sure hope you are feeling well. Your son though, “Franklin” if i recall correctly, he sure seems to be hateful. I’m mean i have seen reports on what he says, and it is hard for me to believe. He ought not say such things. I’m just saying it like i sense it.
Peace,
Ken Hausle
Gee… what a surprise. I thought for sure all of the Chicken Littles in Cheney’s pocket were right this time!
Unfortunately, the chicken hawks and war-profiteers just have not been able to get the cadence for the drum beats of war down to a steady flow like they did before, when they stampeded us into Iraq… maybe there just aren’t enough of the “true believers” left to create a rhythym section.
I have noticed that many of the cheerleaders for war, like Bill Kristol, Doug Feith, Francis Fukiyama and others have jumped off the party boat… pointing to the poor planning and execution of the war they helped sell us in Iraq.
Perhaps they just don’t want to look like fools all over again.
I call that progress.
Of course the US charges are fabricated by warmongering bastards. In Iran, honesty is a common virtue, in the white house and on capital hill, it is very rare.
The USA is the #1 obstacle to world peace, even though the massive propaganda machine leads a huge percentage of Americans to believe that it a great defender of democracy and human rights - when in fact it is a major DESTROYER of democracy and human rights.
Let’s just hope when the order comes down to Invade, senior military members have the courage to Just Say No.
Reuters may not have as many patrons as Fox news, but it is pretty main-stream, so more than a few people are going to see this article, making this very good news.
For the real story on what is going on with the IAEA and not from the mainstream media i highly recommend going to their website is www.iaea.org or email them and make them get the truth out to the mainstream media at Official.Mail@iaea.org
Stop the lies and spins of Bush?Cheney and co.
If the IAEA wants to stop a war they just need to speak as clearly as they can–even calling Bush an idiot/liar more or less, if they really want to get enough attention in the media. The way they couch words diplomatically when we are talking about war and a moron president is absurd. Call a spade a spade.
By now we should know verifiable facts do not matter to those sitting in the White House and Pentagon. Just watch! It will be spin, spin, spin and then bomb, bomb, bomb. Note well this news report contributes to this spin by framing the news as “IRAN SAYS IAEA Atom Report Shows US Charges Wrong” rather than “IAEA Atom Report Contrary to US Charges” or “IAEA Report suggests Iran not a Nuclear Threat.” These alternative frames, of course, are not as useful to the paranoid and delusional missions of Western imperialism.
The White House will continue pushing for military action by using the circular logic it used against Iraq and (until recently) North Korea:
1) “Well, the report says Iran is operating below capacity but we can’t trust them nasty people over there to keep it that way.”
2) “Since we can’t trust them, we should assume their intentions are to produce weapon’s grade uranium.”
3) “We know these are their intentions because they’re untrustworthy!
4) “Since we have established the ‘fact’ that Iran is going nuclear, let’s get them before they get us!”
This type of thinking as seeped deep into the national security orientation of the United States. An insistence on seeing the world in black and white, good and evil has meant verifiable facts and reasonable responses no longer matter. All we need is gut feeling, self-righteousness, and God to tell us what to do!
PS - I’m glad to read so many of you don’t buy the bull you were being served when the US invaded Iraq and don’t buy it now. Sadly, many DID buy it and WILL buy it when it comes to Iran because this black and white thinking runs deeper than the foreign policy establishment.
Since when do facts and reality matter to delussional, brainwashed, and ignorant conservatives living in the fantasyland bubble of their American island, whether it be the midwest, south, mountion states or wherever.
I tell ya, enact legislation two fold-
1- All foreign refugees, no matter how many, created by a war in which America starts/is involved will be immediatley granted amnesty here in America and can immigrate in America…
2- Enact not only a military draft, but a civil service requirement for all Americans regardless of age and/or physical ability. Everyone can contribute and support the war in one way or another.
First people to be drafted are
-The children of ALL Politicians and Government officials, Federal, State and Local.
-Children of ALL households earning 100K or greater- and adjusting increase for inflation every other year.
-No deferments for anything including college.
-All other Americans not “physically able” to or not of age to fight/serve in the military will be required to fulfill a mandatory civil service requirement of no less than the entire duration of the war. This not in place of, but instead in addition to their fulltime jobs, parenting, schooling, or any other lifetask you are living at the moment.
We’ll see how long the wars last when Americans actually have to support the wars in more ways than simply putting a bumper sticker on their car, joining a myspace group, listen to Rush, and/or subscribing to townhall.com.
Im quite serious too. Enact this legislation ASAP, put people, especially conservatives to the test, and we’ll see how brave and American they are, and how much they love the country. Even more so, when they realize the affects of war what with the Millions of foreign war refugees brought to America. I thought we were “liberating” these people and bringing them freedom? If we truly were, and people actually believed that, we’d have absolutely no problem bringing them over here to America where we are, uhh… liberated and free…..???
Israel will never stand for this.
This report just tells us something that the rational people left in this country already know.
Iran has no nuclear weapons intentions. The US does though and has expressed intentions of using them in aggression.
Iran has signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and there is no evidence to indicate they have violated it in any way. The US has violated the treaty in many ways and Israel refused to sign it. Middle Eastern nuclear aggression comes from the USA and Israel.
Iran has supported Hezbollah and Hamas groups in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia is one of Hamas’s biggest financial supporters. The US just signed a 30 billion arms deal with Israel and the Bush administration wants to sell 20 billion more in arms to Saudi Arabia. So we’re financing and selling arms to countries that openly support terrorist groups while at the same time professing to be ‘at war’ with terrorists.
We’re the only terrorists. We’re threatening nuclear aggression on countries that have not attacked us or even threatened us. We have openly defied the UN and invaded 2 countries already for no reason. (Why even have a UN?) We’re attempting to thwart China’s economy by bleeding ‘unsafe product’ reports into the media. We’re selling massive amounts of weapons to countries with questionable intentions when we’re supposed to be de-escaling the conflict. The United States is definitely the biggest threat to the world right now.
The IAEA was right about WMDs in Iraq. I wonder if the MSM will give them credit for that this time around.
It is impossible to prove a negative.
Iran can prove that their nuclear program is for civilian purposes, but it is impossible to prove that they do not have another secret military program…neither can any other country in the world.
As seem in Iraq, even after illegally invading and occupying the country for years, the USA STILL will not admit that their was no WMD program.
I think we should inspect Israel next.
Of course, the Cheney-Bush gang is wrong. But that’s not going to slow their and Israel’s insane drive to foment a war with Iran. And don’t depend on the U.S. Congress or the Pentagon to stop them.
When the sun shines its time to make hay!
Nancy, Harry, Hillary, Barack…this article is the sunshine you need to make hay!
Unless the Democrats are paying attention and are not afraid to make political hay pronto, this story will be of no value in slowing down the neocon machine.
In answer to whatfools Aug. 30 2:21-
***k Israel and Humvee they rode in on.
There are two sources of fissionable material for a nuclear bomb.
1) Enrich “common” uranium (only .0075 U235) up to 90+%. You need minimum 1200 centrifuges (more typically, 2500), but they must all be linked together into one large cascade. 12 small cascades of 164 units means 12x of 4% U235. Good for reactor fuel, but can’t make a bomb. Reconfiguring all those cascades into one giant one is a “non-trivial” task. Even then, once completed, it would take about 1 year to get enough U235 to make 1-2 bombs (about 50kg each).
2) Take that 4% U235, put into fuel rods, and run them in your power reactor. After a year in the reactor, take out the rods (which will have fallen from 4% U235 down to 1%) and you’ll find about 1/2 of 1% by weight Plutonium 239. Only need about 10kg of that to make a bomb. One nuclear power plant (if fuel rods are cycled quickly), makes about 20kg per year of P239. Easier to extract out of the spent rods as well. In fact, that’s why Israel bombed Saddam’s unfinished Osirak reactor back in 1981.
BTW, the Russian built Bushehr (yes, that’s really its name) reactor is about a year behind schedule and won’t open for at least another year. See link: http://www.sptimesrussia.com/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=22467
Iran would be a good 2-3 years away from a test bomb, IF it decided to start today. And that includes trackable steps along the way (NPT treaty says that Russia gets the spent rods - and P239 - from the reactor). We can keep inspectors monitoring those cascaded centrifuges (checking configuration). You can’t hide that test bomb detonation underground either (though Israel or the US wouldn’t wait that long anyway). It emits decaying nuclear particles that pass through rock and are detectable in the atmosphere.
Look, even North Korea sat on their spent fuel rods from 1988, onto ‘94 (Framework treaty), all the way till Bush stamped his feet in 2004 and they restarted the program. If Iran really just wants to fuel nuclear reactors, there are ways to make it happen. A little bit of carrot, less stick, more inspectors. Clearly the US obstinance (and to a lesser degree, Israel) is the issue. Cheney wants a war with Iran, reasons are secondary.
Never mind that the US just approved a nuclear trade deal with India, who refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - and Congress just rubberstamped the deal as well. Iran, on the other hand, did sign the treaty.
Let’s see if any of the corporate media outlets decide to give this story coverage (and not just buried in the back of section C) over the next few days. They said they were sorry about printing the lies about Iraqi WMDs - but are they now doing the exact same thing with Iran?
aachener August 30th — Your picture was there as the direct definition of “looney-tunes lunatic”, while the others you listed as “lunatic leftie fringe” is a figment of your horribly distorted imagination. Turn off Fox noise and put down the Weekly Standare, Mr. Stupid, Please!
aachener,
Since you have seen pictures of nine people in the dictionary, under “looney-tunes, lunatic lefty fringe” :
perhaps you can render a 40 word narration describing what you saw……I didn’t think you could. Also, the dictionary doesn’t offer meanings for phrases, such as you used, but rather individual words. Please submit your photo to Websters and have it next to the word, “stupid”. Half-wits should never attempt being witty.
Part of the reason why the “corporate media” doesn’t get the story there in Iran is because being an American, even when you’re media, is pretty much a death sentence over there unless you’re under constant observation by security… well-armed security.
I don’t know why people think Iran has no intention of using nukes or otherwise causing harm. It’s been true for many years, under Democratic U.S. regimes or Republican, that Iran has been a sponsor of terrorism. That’s incontrovertible. And sure, maybe the average person in Iran is not an extremist, but when the nation’s president says “death to America” and that he will “wipe Israel from the map” … well… even a liberal like me has to wonder why anyone would say Iran isn’t a huge risk to us and the rest of the West.
Certainly, I wouldn’t believe anything the current U.S. administration has to say. But I think we should have gone to Afghanistan with the same force (or more) that we used in Iraq, and I think Iran is the real threat. At least Pakistan’s administration is friendly to us at the moment. And yes I do blame the Bush administration for the HUGE upswing in extremist recruiting activities. But you simply can’t deny the threat behind the words of the Iranian president. Only an idiot would do so.
Sadly, even if one were required - with proof of an imminent threat that never existed in Iraq - we are completely unprepared for another military action at this point, and that’s on Dubya as well.
killyt is really cool.
Weppons o’ Mass Deestrucshun, Weppons o’ Nuklar Deestruction — it don’ mek no nevermind. Git outta mah face, we comin after ‘em! Y’all needa unnerstan Freedom’s On Tha March, an aint no Moozlim gettin in its way. An’ mek no miztake, God be on our side! We gonna save then Iraniants, an mek gud Christians otta ‘em. Support our troops, an’ lez roll! Praise tha Lord an’ push tha button!
Do not worry, Bush/Chenney have never let facts or the truth get in the way of their agenda.
I wouldn’t worry about Iran though, Israel will take care of the situation when it comes time.
Habitat:
“Take that 4% U235, put into fuel rods, and run them in your power reactor. After a year in the reactor, take out the rods (which will have fallen from 4% U235 down to 1%) and you’ll find about 1/2 of 1% by weight Plutonium 239. Only need about 10kg of that to make a bomb. One nuclear power plant (if fuel rods are cycled quickly), makes about 20kg per year of P239″.
I believe we have a physics error:
It is true that you will have a significant inventory of plutonium after a year in a power reactor but it will not be suitable for weaponry. You would have a significant fraction of the Pu-240 isotope with that much burnup-probably about 15-20% of your plutonium would be Pu-240 after one year.
Nuclear weaponry requires high purity Pu-239 which can only be made with low burnup exposure. The most impure plutonium ever used successfully in a weapon is classified but generally thought to be about 91% Pu-239. Standard weapons grade plutonium is 94% Pu-239 or higher.
Pu-240 has too many free neutrons from spontaneous fission for a weapon. It would cause the weapon to be very unreliable and unpredictable. Pu-240 also gives off too much heat to be able to pack the precision high explosive charges around the pit as tightly as required.
Standard light water reactors such as the Bushehr unit are not suitable for making weapons grade plutonium. The research reactor that the North Koreans have or the one that Israel bombed in Iraq are more suited to weapons grade plutonium production.
Any reactor such as the Chernobyl style reactors that is capable of being refueled while in operation is also capable of weapons grade plutonium production.
The US operated special “production” reactors at national laboratories to make our current inventory of weapons grade plutonium.
Clearly aachener is one of those sad benighted souls who still thinks name-calling is a reasonable substitute for argumentative substance. How sad for him — his intellectual peers are all still in the second grade.
Worse, however, is the notion that those of us who are relieved that the sabre-rattling toboggan ride of the Bush Administration that has been headed straight down the slippery slope of nuclear war has hit a brick wall of solid fact are somehow laughable.
Nobody wins a nuclear war, Mr. Aachener. Any sane and intelligent person fears the prospect of it. And just as my fellow posters have pointed out, there’s a special word in the dictionary for those who think nuclear wars are a good idea. It’s under “S.”
Happy looking. (Maybe keep him out of trouble for awhile.)
It is encouraging to see so many commentators who think for themselves and who see the current Government propaganda ramp-up for a “preemptive” attack on Iran for what it is. It is also good to see this rare mainstream (wire-service) story which essentially tells the truth about the non-threat that Iran presents in terms of nuclear capacity to harm anyone (although I agree with the commentator who wishes for more clarity from IEAE spokespersons about the true facts of the matter). What I am NOT sanguine about is the bi-partisan support in Washington for demonizing Iran and setting up Iran for another unprovoked and undeserved “preemptive” US war in the
Middle East. Within the past month the Senate voted 97-0 for a Lieberman-sponsored amendment condemning Iran and “finding” (on evidence even flimsier than that relied upon in 2003 to “prove” that Iraq had massive stockpiles of WMDs) that Iran is “murdering US troops in Iraq.” This legislative “finding” by a unanimous Senate has recently been quoted by the President in recent speeches around the country and (despite a pious “proviso” in the amendment that it was not to be construed as Congressional authorization for military action against Iran) stands as political support for the President at any time to take “retaliatory” military action against an Iran which is “murdering our troops.” Pat Buchanan has spoken to this situation very clearly and justifiably fears that nothing further is needed from Congress to give the President a politically safe pass to do whatever he chooses to do against Iran. To those of us who oppose another “war of choice” in the Middle East, the time is NOW to confront our Congressional delegations (Democrats and Republicans) and make very clear to them that we do NOT support military action against Iran.
Billy_y4,
Good to hear from you again. Technical knowledge is always welcome and sorely needed in this type of discussion. My undergrad is engineering mechanics, so I unfortunately can tell you more about containment wall degradation or crack propagation rather than nuclear engineering (though I have several friends in that field).
My assumptions on P239 are based upon the following Los Alamos article ( http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/lanl/pubs/00818005.pdf#search=%22%22plutonium%20in%20use%22%20los%20alamos%22 ). A friend of mine at Argonne forwarded the article when we had this exact discussion about sources of plutonium, so I don’t claim to have the expertise that you do. As I understand it (see page 4), the total plutonium is about 1% by weight in spent fuel rods, but 40% of that is non-fissile. I am aware that nearly half the plutonium would not be usable, but I don’t have the technical knowledge of how this impacts recovery/extraction of high-purity P239.
Anyway, my overall point is that standard power reactors have created nearly 1000 metric tonnes of P239 (enough for 100K bombs), though it is contained within the spent fuel rods. Based upon the current media hype about enriched uranium, I don’t think the average person is aware of the predominance of plutonium, rather than HEU, in nuclear bombs, or that high purity P239 is a byproduct of standard light water power reactors.
It is hypocritical to sell nuclear technology to India, a friend, and to condemn Iran, an enemy (?). While it may be a violation for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, the U.S. is also violating the treaty by failing to reduce its arsenal and developing new weapons.
It doesn’t seem that Iran is developing nuclear weapons but even if it is, there is no imminent threat (same as Iraq even if there were WMD) so there is no justification for a pre-emptive strike.
It sounds like we are a “grave and gathering danger” to Iran. Therefore, one could see why they would want nuclear weapons. If we could invade Iraq because they were a “grave and gathering danger”, couldn’t Iran use the same reasoning to attack us?
Based on the recent rhetoric, it seems we’re going to rely more on the excuse of Iranian weapons and insurgents in Iraq trained by Iran to justify our attack. Of course, there will be no serious quetioning of these allegations or discussion, even if true, or that we are one of the largest arms suppliers in the world and have over 700 bases in 130 nations.
Be afraid! Be very afraid! We want that oil and the war profits even if it makes us less safe as our invasion of Iraq did.
Habitat,
Separating plutonium from used fuel is a well known technology called the PUREX process. This process is ugly and expensive but within a determined government’s capability.
Once you have the plutonium separated from used fuel, there is no publicly acknowledged method to separate Pu-239 from the other plutonium isotopes. (Lord only know what is up the sleeves of the national labs.)
Since weapons require at least 90% isotopic purity and preferably 95%, the only known way to get weapons grade plutonium is to make it in a reactor which can provide very low burn up uranium. A research reactor or an on-line refueling reactor is the appropriate tool. The Iranian reactor or the light water reactors in the US are not suitable since these are batch refueled after 12 to 24 months of service.
The plutonium accumulated in the used fuel inventory is suitable for use in MOX (mixed oxide-uranium and plutonium mixed together) fuel or as fuel in a fast reactor. It would not make suitable bombs.
You are correct that most of the current weapons inventory is plutonium based but I would challenge you on your statement that high purity Pu-239 is a byproduct of standard light water reactors.
(My undergraduate training was in metallurgical engineering but I have worked in the nuclear industry about 40 years.)
Billy_y4,
My mistake in saying that high purity P29 is a “byproduct” of LWR. At a 40/60 mix, it clearly is not. I am aware that most weapons-grade plutonium is produced in military/research reactors. My confusion, apparently, is in continuing references I read as to the amounts of P239 created in LWRs.
If I understand you correctly, saying a LWR produces 20KG of P239 per year (within the spent fuel rods) is technically correct, but practically meaningless due to the inability to separate it from the other plutonium isotopes. Yes?
googly moogly
Say what else you want about Iran, but please divest yourself of Zionist/Israeli mythology. Ahmadinejad NEVER said that he wanted to “wipe Israel off the map.” Such as Juan Cole, Arash Nourazi, and Virginia Tilley have already addressed that issue. Ahmadinejad quoted Khomeini, as follows: The regime occupying Jerusalem will disappear from the page of time. That’s a far cry from your misstatement, but that doesn’t satisfy Israel’s goal of using Uncle Sap as Israel’s attack dog.
“Death to America” is passe, and I’m sure Ahmadinejad never said that.
Death to Zionist/Israeli mythology!
RED ALERT, aka Two Hours to Doom
We’ll Meet Again
Let’s say goodbye with a smile, dear,
Just for a while, dear, we must part.
Don’t let the parting upset you,
I’ll not forget you, sweetheart.
We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when,_But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day._Keep smiling through, just like you always do,_’Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.
So will you please say hello to the folks that I know,_Tell them I won’t be long._They’ll be happy to know that as you saw me go,_I was singing this song.
After the rain comes the rainbow,_You’ll see the rain go, never fear,_We two can wait for tomorrow,_Goodbye to sorrow, my dear.
http://ingeb.org/songs/wellmeet.mid
Habitat,
Meaningless somewhat overstates it.
The IAEA position is that it may be possible to get reactor grade plutonium to explode but that it would be very unpredictable and unreliable. That means for it is not very militarily useful material(no government wants a weapon it can’t predict or trust and is likely to be a dud).
It might have some value in a terrorist device if the goal is the emotional impact rather than a specific amount of target destruction. It would be much more difficult than building a weapon out of high quality plutonium however.
A device made from reactor grade material would be very difficult to handle, would give a good dose of radiation to its handlers and would be very easy for a radiation detector to pick up.
I’m not so sure our military can handle Afghan. Iraq, and Iran at the same time. Even Cheney Co. is wary of this and the disruption of oil from Iran is a big factor too. I think they might talk a lot of tough talk but never engage fully militarily. Covert ops are underway and they will continue and expand probably. There was an interesting extra-long special feature on Iran in The Economist a few weeks back that detailed the situation more than the daily newspaper article. It is a very tangled web there and even bombing it from afar could be difficult or unfeasable. Iran has “sophisticated” missile defense systems and could retaliate against Israel heavily and in the gulf. They could disrupt oil distrib. lines beyond their own borders too.
Supposedly though the gov. in Iran is putting the country on “war footing”.
Neocon Rulebook:
1. Find a scapegoat for your current problems.
2. Destabilize the scapegoat nation and secure its resources.
3. Rinse and then repeat.
I’m sure they’ll tell you it has to do with money, Happy Days. I’m sure some “insurgents” will get caught trying to sell US DU projectiles to the Iranians too(that where sold to them by our generals).
This from the MSM…the White House is already dismissing this, which isn’t a surprise..
…”But the Bush administration and its allies, which have won sanctions in the United Nations Security Council in an effort to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment, saw the latest report as more evidence of defiance, not cooperation.
“There is no partial credit here,” a State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, said Thursday. “Iran has refused to comply with its international obligations, and as a result of that the international community is going to continue to ratchet up the pressure.”…
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/world/middleeast/31nuke.html?ex=1346212800&en=587f847a3a563134&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
The Cheney Administration will stop at nothing to destroy or at least severely incapacitate Iran. So, everybody just has to keep an eye on him, so he can’t give the order.
Iran’s nuclear activity was a non-issue blown out of proportions by the Washington war criminals to begin with. IAEA’s report is still unable to prevent the War-Criminals Front Man in Washington from fabricating other lies or creating a Gulf of Tonkin incident. Never underestimate the proven Liar-in-Chief or the war propaganda machine. The people must change not only the regime in Washington, but also the entire plutocratic system into a rule by the people, aka democracy.
Aachener:
Your vision must have been terribly blurred and your mind foggy. I strongly advise you to consult an eye specialist and a shrink. For that, better go to the small, occupied land where you belong, because your comment gives you away.
Sad part about this is from reports I’ve read the Iranian ‘people’ actually like Americans and things American, despite what leaders in their government & religion try to propagandize them with. Let’s see, they have somewhat of a nutcase president, radical nutcase religious fundamentalist clergy egging him on, and a complicit MSM. Gee, sure sounds familiar, now doesn’t it?
The saddest part of the whole situation is the little boys playing with grown up toys. Do we really have to watch as they set the house on fire, or should we spank them and send them to their rooms?
Oh, and thanks Thomas Hussey for straightening out googly moogly about the spin the Bushies tried to foist on us about what Ahmadinejad supposedly said about “Wiping Israel off the map”. He never said that, the Bushies said he said that. Just one more in an interminable series of lies by these neo-CON/Bushie/Zionist freaks. Where does all this lunacy end? Impeachment maybe?
Lies and more lies — the warmongering perpetrators must be removed and tried.
Look, we know Iran isn’t making nukes. BUT, we can’t have double standards here. Nuclear power is dangerous for our planet and its inhabitants, no matter which country is using it. Why can’t they invest in solar/wind/hydro-electric? Hell, why can’t we?
America - wake up. Your once good non fascist country is now ruled by Kissinger, Feith et al. Get rid of these non combatant war mongers and replace them with honest policemen if that is what you realy want.
Peace
Why are we arguing this. The US knows Iran is not trying to develop nukes. It is not now and it never has been about Iran’s nukes.
In 2005 the supreme leader of Iran issued a fatwa in which he stated that the development of nuclear weapons is not allowed under Islamic Law.
Now if you believe that Iran is a true Theocracy , where by it governs according to it’s religions believes. Then how could anyone believe the West ’s claims.
The hype in the west about Iran’s supposed efforts to develop nuclear weapons,is just another example of the west trying to play off the ignorance of it’s people!
“America - wake up. Your once good non fascist country is now ruled by Kissinger”
As a young man myself, I can tell that even the older generations haven’t learned the lessons of their own lifetime, let alone of history prior to their generation.
So it’s an ignorant and dumb America not learning from the mistakes in the past. Look at MLK jr’s Wife, the shadow government was spying and harassing it’s citizens in the 60’s… this is nothing new.
Caught an episode of Family Guy where Chris, the son, joins the college republicans because of some girl… he goes
Chris “What do the college republicans do?”
The Girl “We provide help and benefits to people who already have the means to help themselves.”
We have the nuclear weapons, we have used them before, we have an insane mommy’s boy on the button, we have a chicken hawk as vice president cheering him on, and ruling corporations who will profit from any war.
Nobody else is in our class as warmongers.
Iran Says IAEA Atom Report Shows US Charges Wrong
Well duh! Same shit from the administration different country.
QUOTE I don’t know why people think Iran has no intention of using nukes or otherwise causing harm. It’s been true for many years, under Democratic U.S. regimes or Republican, that Iran has been a sponsor of terrorism. That’s incontrovertible. UNQUOTE - Googly moogly
So where is this evidence or reasoning that is “incontrivertible”. I am fully aware that the MSM continues to spout such lies, but unless you still think that is “a given” that Saddam was amassing WMD, you dont need to beleive it. Lots of noise from the MSM does not mean it is incontrovertible.
Iran has never attacked any country. It has only defended itself from Saddam who made war on behalf of the USA. Iran has supported Hizbolla in Lebanon. Only if you beleive the MSM would you describe Hizbolla as a terrorist organisation. They are Lebanese that banded together while under Israeli occupation and successfully expelled Israel from Lebanon. And since then they have managed to repel Israel more than once.
Iran has always rejected the use and the creation of Nukes. They have abided by all the nuclear treaties, and no other country other than Iraq has been subjected to such scrutiny. Please contrast that history of not invading - of not using cluster bombs - of not using chemical weapons - of not destroying other countries with the history of other countries, e.g. Israel, USA to start with. Which country threatens the use of nukes, refusing to remove the use of nukes from the table? Which country has used nukes on a civilian population?
I would not like to live in a country ruled by a fundamentalist regime, but Iran IS NOT A THREAT TO ANY COUNTRY. They continue to permit inspections of their nuclear facilities and if they did get serous about making nukes they need 10 years of development to do that according to the IAEA.
Here is the FBI definition of terrorism:- “The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”
Nowhere does it say that states are immune from the definition:- unlawful use of force or violence (bombing Iraq) … intimidate the civilian population (the Iraqis) … in furtherance of political objectives (imposing democracy or to steal oil). No here is a little quiz for you:- Only one country has been convicted of terrorism in the world court. Which is it?
What? The shit isn’t sticking to the wall?