On Monday a new NIE was released in wich it was found that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program (such as it was) in 2003, and remains on hold. It also includes a lot of 'perhaps' and 'maybes' relating to future possibilities. It is an estimate after all.
This (the realisation that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons research) rather contradicts a lot of recent statements from the Whitehouse including the one from Bush where he said in October,
Quote:
"I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,"
Scary rhetoric, indeed.
Anyway, it would now seem that Iran isn't pursuing nukes, any more than, say Belgium or, if you would prefer a more 'fundamentally' religeous comparison, Vatican City.
El Presidente, yesterday said....
Quote:
THE PRESIDENT: Here's what we know. We know that they're still trying to learn how to enrich uranium. We know that enriching uranium is an important step in a country who wants to develop a weapon. We know they had a program. We know the program is halted.
I think it is very important for the international community to recognize the fact that if Iran were to develop the knowledge that they could transfer to a clandestine program it would create a danger for the world. And so I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program. And the reason why it's a warning signal is that they could restart it. And the thing that would make a restarted program effective and dangerous is the ability to enrich uranium, the knowledge of which could be passed on to a hidden program.
And so it's a -- to me, the NIE provides an opportunity for us to rally the international community -- continue to rally the community to pressure the Iranian regime to suspend its program. (The same program that he says above has already been halted 3 years ago)
I think it is very important for the international community to recognize the fact that if Iran were to develop the knowledge that they could transfer to a clandestine program it would create a danger for the world. And so I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program. And the reason why it's a warning signal is that they could restart it. And the thing that would make a restarted program effective and dangerous is the ability to enrich uranium, the knowledge of which could be passed on to a hidden program.
And so it's a -- to me, the NIE provides an opportunity for us to rally the international community -- continue to rally the community to pressure the Iranian regime to suspend its program. (The same program that he says above has already been halted 3 years ago)
The rest of the Q&A session is as fine a mangling of the English language as you would hope to find anywhere...worth a read just for the semantic contortions it contains.
Bush reckons that he didn't know about the new information until last week, even tho he was told of "new information" about Iran in August '07 during a briefing by Adm. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence. "He didn't tell me what the information was. He did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze".
Seems somewhat odd to me that he would be so un-inquisitive about this info, when he is obviously fixated on Iran.....
Anyway, I think its interesting that a story like this can surface and the Fox network (when I looked) was leading with a story about violent video games.
Funny ol' world.
Edited, Dec 4th 2007 10:57pm by paulsol