Via the Boston Globe:
FOR 15 YEARS in my various government and parliament duties for the State of Israel, I have been closely tracking Iran's nuclear program. I do so because I consider it a threat to the international community and an existential threat to my country.
Frankly, the headlines about the recent National Intelligence estimate on Iran - "Iran Halted Nuclear Arms Effort in 2003" - stunned me. After a thorough reading of the published parts of the NIE, I pose three questions to its authors, whom I don't know but I do respect.
You wrote, "Iran resumed its declared centrifuge enrichment activities in January 2006, despite the continued halt in the nuclear weapon program. Iran made a significant progress in 2007 installing centrifuges in Natanz. . ." And, "Iranian entities are continuing to develop a range of technical capabilities that could be applied to producing a nuclear weapon, if a decision is made to do so."
If uranium enrichment and development of those technologies continues, what exactly was halted in the fall of 2003?
Two ingredients are mainly required for a nuclear bomb: fissile material and a special explosion device.
The production of the fissile material requires large, easily detectable industrial facilities like the one in Natanz. To develop and produce the weapon device, however, only a small plant is enough, a plant whose size and contours are similar to any innocent laboratory. That is what is called "the weapon group." Only the absolute dismantling of the "weapon group" can be considered as "halting nuclear weapons program." Can you say with confidence that such a laboratory does not exist anywhere in Iran? Is your coverage of Iran so total and intrusive as to justify such a conclusion?
The report said, "We assess with high confidence that Iran has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to eventually produce nuclear weapons if it decides to do so." But, you also write that ". . .We don't know whether [Iran] currently intends to develop nuclear weapons." And, "We do not have sufficient intelligence to judge confidently whether Teheran is willing to maintain the halt."
If you don't have enough knowledge about the regime's intention, and that is understandable, how do you know, or will you know, that such a decision has not been taken or implemented?
You wrote, "A growing amount of intelligence indicates Iran was engaged in covert uranium enrichment activity, but we judge that the efforts probably were halted in response to the fall 2003 halt, and that these efforts probably had not been restarted through at least mid-2007."
You say "probably." But your judgment that Teheran had not "restarted its nuclear weapon program as of mid-2007" can be based only on the assumption that nowhere in Iran is there an active covert nuclear program. Are you sure?
According to the NIE, "sometime during the 2010-2015 time frame" Iran would have enough enriched uranium for a weapon. The ballistic missiles that can deliver such a weapon to Israel, as well as Gulf and European countries, are already operational.
We can't wait for answers to my questions. This National Intelligence Estimate, about which there are legitimate questions, may well reduce the likelihood that additional and tougher international sanctions will be imposed on Iran. We would then have to rely on ourselves.
Well, since Iran has proven to be such a "trustworthy" ally of our soldiers in Iraq, we should just believe whatever the Persians tell us, huh?
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military Sunday presented evidence it says shows an elite Iranian force under the command of Iran's supreme leader is behind bombings that have killed at least 170 U.S. troops in Iraq.
U.S. officials have made general statements in the past year about Iranian involvement in Iraq, but haven't provided many details.
The charges came at a Baghdad briefing by a senior defense official, a senior defense analyst and an explosives expert, all of whom asked to remain unnamed.
The officials focused on EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators, as evidence that Iran is involved in arming Iraqi insurgents. EFPs can punch through heavily armored vehicles.(Watch U.S. officials outline their case against Iran
The U.S. military officials said EFPs are manufactured in such a specific way that they can be traced to Iran.
Also, the U.S. military says 81 mm mortar shells used in deadly attacks in Iraq can also be directly traced to Iran.
The U.S. military said the munitions are being provided to Shiite groups in Iraq by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds force, which answers directly to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The military officials said a senior operations officer for the Quds force was among several Iranian officers arrested in Irbil, Iraq, in the past few weeks.
Tags: Covert Nuclear Program | deceipt | destruction | EFP's | enemy | intelligence officials | iran | Iranian-made IED''s | israel | lies | Life | nie | perfidy | pfgbest. pfgbestwatch
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