December 9, 2007

Iran’s Nuclear Goal

Stop the press!

Iran President Ahmadinejad has read the latest United States National Intelligence Estimate report -- which supports his assertion that Iran’s nuclear program is for energy, not weapons, and therefore is a “victory” for his country.

The analysis was presented to President Bush last week. It avers Iran stopped its nuclear weapons development program four years ago.

We are reminded of an old joke (the best kind) about a chicken thief caught one night in a hen house not his.

When challenged by the owner with a shotgun, the thief shouted:

“Don’t shoot!
Ain’t nobody in here ‘cept us chickens.”

Iran is working around the clock at Nantz to install 3,000 gas centrifuge tubes of highly polished aluminum – themselves contraband imported from Russia. A year of continuous operation could produce enough fuel for a bomb.

Also, Iran is building a “heavy water” reactor at Arak. That facility also produces plutonium of little use in producing electricity for civilian use.

Israel war planes fly over Nantz and Arak often to measure progress there. With good reason. Iranian nutcakes – and other mid-East firebrands – repeatedly proclaim a goal of “wiping Israel off the map.”

This is loose and dangerous boasting. It is estimated that Israel has 75 or more nukes hidden in a safe and secure location – perhaps a small island off the coast of Africa.

Whatever. Israel is famous for striking first, if severely provoked. Just last September, Israel bombed a Syrian nuclear research center into rubble.

Nuke Nations

Americans tend to think that the U.S. with 5,000 nukes, and Russia with maybe 6,000, have a monopoly on Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) weapons.

Not so.

The Natural Resources Defense Council monitors the “Nuclear Club.” It estimates that in addition to the nations mentioned above, Britain has 750 nukes, France 350, China 130, India 70, Pakistan 55.

South Africa produced six nuclear weapons in the 1980s, but dissembled them in the early 1990s.

In addition to the much-publicized and feared nuclear weapons, 20 nations -- not including the U.S. – have “weapons of mass destruction.”

These are categorized as biological, chemical and radiological. All can be transported in backpacks -- and scattered widely by air currents, canned aerosol, or sticks of dynamite.

Was And Is

U.S. President George W. Bush insists the latest NIE report will not change his position.

“Iran WAS dangerous and IS dangerous.

“And, Iran will continue dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. The international community must remain vigilant.”

In a slight change of attitude, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergi Lavrov, says the U.S. report should be taken into account when discussing further sanctions at the United Nations.

The Voice of America News says United States, Britain and France remain concerned about Iran’s nuclear ambitions and so further sanctions against Tehran remain an option.

The new leaders of key European nations – French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- declared on Thursday that Iran remains a danger, and other nations need to keep up pressure on its nuclear ambition.

Simultaneously, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice garnered support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization members for new United Nations sanctions against Iran.

Transparency Need

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told a meeting of Persian Gulf nations Saturday that “Iran owes the region and the world a transparent nuclear program.”

Vice Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in the area, said, "One of the main concerns raised by Iran’s military power in the region is its threat to attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz to normal merchant marine (oil transport) traffic."

Israeli officials, likewise, pooh-pooh the U.S. intelligence report. Parliamentarian Ephraim Sneh says it is “very flawed” because enriched uranium would enable Iran to restart its nuclear weapons program at any time.

Sneh asserts the statement shows that Iran poses an "existential threat" to the State of Israel. "When it comes to existential threats, Israel can rely on no one but itself."

* * *

It is time to dust off President Bush’s four-year-old “Road Map to Peace” – this time without bumpy detours -- per a column posted herein exactly four years ago.

Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded on far less.

PARTING SHOTS

Barack Obama wins our Snappy Come Back award this week – in response to an Associated Press report that he and vice-President Cheney might be distant relatives: “He’s the black sheep of the family.”

* * *

If a person does something you don‘t like, tell him. If people don’t know what they’re doing wrong, how can they improve?

* * *

Don’t talk about your troubles. 80 percent of those who hear them, don’t care – and the other 20 percent are glad you’re having trouble.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist