Once again Juan Cole is pointing out important things, http://www.juancole.com. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has given a speech in which he worries that the US will not know what to do if/when Iran achieves the ability to make a nuclear weapon, known as "nuclear latency." While he clearly believes they are pursuing such latency, this is very different from saying that they have an active program of constructing nuclear weapons, which many allege despite longstanding US intel findings that they are not doing so. Cole points out that as long as IAEA inspectors are accessing their sites, this will be extremely unlikely.
OTOH, Iranian Supreme Jurisprudent and Commander-in-Chief, Ali Khamenei, has just made a major speech that Cole provides a translation from in which he reiterates his fatwa against obtaining and particularly using nuclear weapons. He denounces the US for being the only nation in the world to have done so, mentioning Hiroshima. Clearly he is replying to the focus on Iran at the nuclear security summit in Washington organized by Obama, even though Charles Krauthammer has been running around declaring that there was no focus on Iran there.
I support the recently signed treaty with Russia and also most of what went on in Washington, such as securing loose nuclear materials. But the focus on going after the currently-compliant Iran remains a bit mysterious. Actually, it is not so much so. The real object of this exercise is Israel, with its reported 200 or so nuclear bombs, who refused to attend the summit in a fit of pique at Obama's efforts to get it to stop building West Bank settlements and to get back into negotiations with the Palestinians. The Israelis view Iran as an existential threat, clearly viewing Khameini as either lying or powerless. Anyway, it would appear that the US is using up lots of its scarce political capital with China because of this problem of trying to convince the Israelis that "something is being done about about Iran."
6 comments:
"...this problem of trying to convince the Israelis that "something is being done about about Iran."
Israel has nuclear weapons, Iran doesn't, but the US is concerned to "convice the Israelis that something is being done about Iran". Do things get any more topsy-turvy than that?
Robert Gates. "William" is Microsoft.
Israel is not even a signatory of the NPT, while Iran is actually in compliance. Yes, things are a bit wacko, to put it mildly.
Oh, and the US intel on Iran not having an active nuclear weapons program is not just some scattered bits, but an official NIE document from the Bush presidency signed off on by all the US intel agencies. Now some, especially the State Department's INR, sometimes get accused of being a bunch of pansy wimpy pacifist foreigner lovers (even though INR's track record of analysis has generally beaten that of much larger and better funded other intel shops), but even all the hardline DOD outfits like Air Force Intelligence signed off on this finding. It is the loud mouthed journalists like Krauthammer who are fooling people with horse manure, not people like DOD Secretary Gates, although they are forced to do public kowtowing to this widespread belief in falsehoods, as unfortunately it appears Obama must as well.
Thanks to our backup person for fixing the name.
let the commander decide what he want to do in Iraq
"...the US is using up lots of its scarce political capital with China ..."
and anyone else with a brain.
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