Even the spin won't help this White House
The word is out. Iran's military-grade nuclear program has been dormant since 2003, according to the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate).
The exact wording of this report leaves no doubt to its meaning:
We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons
program1;
-------
We assess with high confidence that until fall 2003, Iranian military entities were
working under government direction to develop nuclear weapons.
• We judge with high confidence that the halt lasted at least several years. (Because of
intelligence gaps discussed elsewhere in this Estimate, however, DOE and the NIC
assess with only moderate confidence that the halt to those activities represents a halt
to Iran's entire nuclear weapons program.)
• We assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons
program as of mid-2007, but we do not know whether it currently intends to develop
nuclear weapons.
• We continue to assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Iran does not currently
have a nuclear weapon.
• Tehran’s decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined
to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005 [emphasis mine - G.]. Our assessment
that the program probably was halted primarily in response to international pressure
suggests Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged
previously.
And all this time, Bush and his band of hawks had continued to repeat about the nuclear danger emanating from Iran, the immediate nature of it, the expanding and advancing state of Iranian nuclear weapons program. Now they are shown to be wrong and there are obvious signs that they knew, for at least a few months that they were wrong. Yet, the drum of war was beating ever so loudly in October - November of this year, with images of World War III and Nuclear Holocaust conjured up regularly. In fact, to me it seemed we were on the similar path to the pre-Iraq War build-up in 2002. Only this time, it appears, we learned that Bush and company were lying about the WMD before we allowed them to invade a foreign country.
Sidebar: European politicians and UN officials are already stating that they do not see why any sanctions against Iran should be implemented at all as Iran has not been shown to have done anything wrong: Uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes IS VALID AND LEGAL for any country in the world.
The one thing that still remains to be determined is the size of an egg on the collective White House's face.
The exact wording of this report leaves no doubt to its meaning:
We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons
program1;
-------
We assess with high confidence that until fall 2003, Iranian military entities were
working under government direction to develop nuclear weapons.
• We judge with high confidence that the halt lasted at least several years. (Because of
intelligence gaps discussed elsewhere in this Estimate, however, DOE and the NIC
assess with only moderate confidence that the halt to those activities represents a halt
to Iran's entire nuclear weapons program.)
• We assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons
program as of mid-2007, but we do not know whether it currently intends to develop
nuclear weapons.
• We continue to assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Iran does not currently
have a nuclear weapon.
• Tehran’s decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined
to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005 [emphasis mine - G.]. Our assessment
that the program probably was halted primarily in response to international pressure
suggests Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged
previously.
And all this time, Bush and his band of hawks had continued to repeat about the nuclear danger emanating from Iran, the immediate nature of it, the expanding and advancing state of Iranian nuclear weapons program. Now they are shown to be wrong and there are obvious signs that they knew, for at least a few months that they were wrong. Yet, the drum of war was beating ever so loudly in October - November of this year, with images of World War III and Nuclear Holocaust conjured up regularly. In fact, to me it seemed we were on the similar path to the pre-Iraq War build-up in 2002. Only this time, it appears, we learned that Bush and company were lying about the WMD before we allowed them to invade a foreign country.
Sidebar: European politicians and UN officials are already stating that they do not see why any sanctions against Iran should be implemented at all as Iran has not been shown to have done anything wrong: Uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes IS VALID AND LEGAL for any country in the world.
The one thing that still remains to be determined is the size of an egg on the collective White House's face.