There They (We) Go Again

If you liked the Rush to War Against Iraq, you’ll love the Rush to War Against Iran(TM)! One different letter, twice the danger, all brought to you by the same colorful cast of characters!

Iran Trying to Fit Missiles for Nuclear Weapons

Powell Says U.S. Has Intelligence on Tehran’s Plans

By ALAN CLENDENNING, AP

SANTIAGO, Chile (Nov. 18) — The United States has intelligence indicating Iran is trying to fit missiles to carry nuclear weapons, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

Wow, Colin! Do they have lots of anthrax too? Better call Kofi Annan and book another UN speech to let everyone know what a terrible threat we face!

Mohammad Mohaddessin, of the opposition group National Council for Resistance in Iran, displays an aerial photo of Tehran during a press conference Wednesday. The group says Iran isn’t being honest with the U.N. about its nuclear activities. Powell partially confirmed claims by an Iranian opposition group that Tehran is deceiving the United Nations and is attempting to secretly continue activities meant to give it atomic arms by next year.

”I have seen intelligence which would corroborate what this dissident group is saying,” Powell told reporters Wednesday as he traveled to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Santiago. ”And it should be of concern to all parties.”

Thank goodness for those helpful dissident groups! After all, they have no motivation for lying. It’s not like the National Council for Resistance wants to run Iran after a U.S. invasion or anything. Ahmed Chalabi, call your office.

Pressed by reporters on the intelligence reports, Powell said the intelligence indicates that Iran ”had been actively working on delivery systems” capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.

Powell said there is no evidence to suggest that Iran has developed the technology to make a nuclear weapon, but suggested that the regime is working to adapt missiles for nuclear warheads.

‘I’m talking about information that says that they not only had these missiles, but I’m aware of information that suggests they were working hard as to how to put the two together,” Powell said.

Oh. Well. That’s not exactly the same thing, is it? Yes, you can use a missile to launch a nuke. But you can also use it to carry conventional weapons. Or launch a satellite. I mean, heck, you could mail a nuke to New York. Would that make any country with a postal system a nuclear threat?

A senior official for the National Council for Resistance in Iran said Tuesday that a bomb diagram – along with an unspecified amount of weapons-grade uranium – was provided to Iran by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced former head of Pakistani’s nuclear development which was tied to both Iran and Libya.

He said the designs were handed to the Iranians between 1994 and 1996, while Khan delivered HEU – highly enriched uranium – in 2001.

Once again, the same old story–ancient intelligence from a dubious source already caught lying repeatedly. All Powell has is a friggin’ cartoon–and he’s sabrerattling anyway. God, Colin, do you have anything left of your once shining rep?

Banned in the United States as a terrorist organization, the group was instrumental in 2002 in revealing Iran’s enrichment program in the central city of Natanz, based on what it said was information provided by sources in Iran.

“Banned in the United States as a terrorist organization.” Wow. Nice sourcing, Colin.

The opposition group says a facility at Lavizan-Shian northeast of Tehran was part of a secret nuclear weapons program. Powell declined comment on Khan, but said ”for 20 years the Iranians have been trying to hide things from the international community.”

Well, yes. Because the international community has imposed trade sanctions on them, attempted to overthrow their government and even bankrolled Saddam Hussein’s invasion of them. If I were the Iranians, I might be trying to keep things discreet too. Hell, I might even be trying to develop nukes to save myself from what happened to Iraq next door. But who has more to hide from the international community than the U.S.? Since when do we open our doors to international arms inspectors? Yet we are by far the greatest danger facing the world today. We have more nukes, and we’re the only country to ever have used them. Twice. On civilian targets.