bRight & Early

Jim Lynch February 28th, 2006 7:09 am

According to the AP headline, “IAEA: Iran Not Seeking to Produce Nukes.” Yeah, right.

A report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency shows there is no proof Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons, Iran’s foreign minister said Tuesday in Japan.

“They could not find evidence which shows that Iran has diverted from its peaceful purposes of nuclear activities in Iran,” said Manouchehr Mottaki, who was in Tokyo to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

A confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report made available to The Associated Press Monday said that a more than three-year probe has not revealed “any diversion of nuclear material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.”

Wow. How could we be so wrong about Iran’s intentions? Oh, wait. Let’s read further.

But it also said that because of lack of sufficient cooperation from the Iranian side, the agency remains unable “to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran.” The report suggested that unless Iran drastically increases its cooperation, the IAEA would not be able to establish whether past clandestine activities were focused on making nuclear arms.

So the real news is that we are unable to verify that Iran isn’t building nuclear arms. Their current actions, not allowing full inspections and continued building of centrifuges, makes it very difficult to trust what they are saying. Couple that with their stated intentions and hatred for Isreal and the US and you have a very disturbing picture.

Experts estimate that Iran already has enough black-market components in storage to build the 1,500 operating centrifuges it would need to make the 45 pounds of highly enriched uranium needed for one crude weapon.

A very disturbing picture. Speaking on a more general topic Jay Tea at Wizbang had this to say,

“Honor the threat.”

When someone who doesn’t like you speaks, listen. Listen very carefully. For they will often speak far more truthfully than they should. And it is the fool that tries to soften their words, who hears what they wish to hear instead of what is said, who searches desperately for signs of hope and moderation and peaceful intent when there is none.

[...]

Iran is led by a Prime Minister who has a history of ordering and carrying out the executions of his enemies, both at home and abroad. He has been tied to the deaths of dozens, if not hundreds, of Iranian dissidents around the world. He has repeatedly proclaimed his belief in the Islamic version of Armageddon, has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map, and insists on unfettered research into nuclear physics — saying it is strictly for peaceful purposes, but meanwhile asserting his nation’s right to possess nuclear weapons.

We can not listen to the current claims of peaceful intentions without examining them against the background of their historical commitments.

Hamas and the Iranian government have never shown any signs of moderation, of reason, of compromise, of being willing to be a part of the civilized world. They have their own selfish, violent goals, and have killed countless people so far in their quest. Now, as both stand on the verge of achieving their greatest acquisition of temporal power (Hamas, in cloaking itself in the garb of semi-statehood; Iran, in possessing nuclear weaponry), it is insanity to think that this victory will deter them from their long-sought and clearly-stated goals.

More than insanity, it is stupidity.

And in a world where stupidity is often a capital offense, it’s a folly we dare not risk.

They have spent decades making their threats, and are now on the cusp of being able to carry them out.

Will we honor those threats, or will we convince ourselves that they don’t really mean what they’ve been saying for so long?

I could be a very dangerous folly to believe that their current words trump their years of rhetoric and actions to contrary. Very dangerous.

Linked with the daily picnic at basil’s blog and with the Mudville Gazette Open Post

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