Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Iran *not* working on a nuke

["Vern Green" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

Interesting, while the report clearly says that they have shutdown the branch that was working on nuclear weapons, they are still enriching uranium and they are still on track to have enough material to create a bomb in the next ten years or so.

 

I wonder how easy it is to start the program back up? Are we all comfortable enough knowing that Iran could still build a bomb in ten years, which is the original time frame that was estimated?

 

I am not sure I remember anyone saying that Iran had a nuclear weapons program. The concern all along has been that they are building centrifuges and enriching uranium.

 

Interestingly enough, in 2005 we heard a similar bit of intelligence. The problem here was not about Iran building nuclear weapons now, but more to the effect that they had all they needed to build a weapon in the future. I think it is hard to tell the difference between the two.

 

Now, what about the west sabre rattling? Well the country screaming the loudest have been the French. The new French president has stated that he will go it alone to keep if he has to in order to keep Iran from having a weapon.

 

Ultimately, I don't think we are seeing anything new here.

On Dec 3, 2007 11:10 AM, Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:

See below.  So they abandoned the program 4 years ago and yet Stephen
Hadley says what he says below -- bizarre!  What a crazy country we have!
Reality will not get in the way of our plans.  --Mike


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-iran.html

A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran
halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains on
hold, contradicting an assessment two years ago that Tehran was working
inexorably toward building a bomb.



Stephen Hadley, National Security Advisor responded as follows:

Today's National Intelligence Estimate offers some positive news. It
confirms that we were right to be worried about Iran seeking to develop
nuclear weapons. It tells us that we have made progress in trying to
ensure that this does not happen.

But the intelligence also tells us that the risk of Iran acquiring a
nuclear weapon remains a very serious problem. The estimate offers grounds
for hope that the problem can be solved diplomatically -- without the use
of force -- as the Administration has been trying to do. And it suggests
that the President has the right strategy: intensified international
pressure along with a willingness to negotiate a solution that serves
Iranian interests while ensuring that the world will never have to face a
nuclear armed Iran.

The bottom line is this: for that strategy to succeed, the international
community has to turn up the pressure on Iran -- with diplomatic
isolation, United Nations sanctions, and with other financial pressure --
and Iran has to decide it wants to negotiate a solution.

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-- 
Thanks
F Vernon Green 
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