From Washington Post: The Iran Bomb Myth

You have to read this piece, featured in Sunday's Washington Post Outlook section. It is huge, or will be, I think, in terms of its impact.

It is written by Joseph Cirincione, an expert adviser of nuclear proliferation for the the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States.

1. The five myths:


2. Iran is on the verge of developing nuclear weapons.


3. A military strike would knock out Iran's program.


4. We can cripple Iran with sanctions.


5. A new government in Iran would abandon the nuclear program.


6. Iran is the main nuclear threat in the Middle East.

Cirincione's piece should deliver a knockout blow to the Iran hawks, assuming neocons care about facts -- which they don't. Iran, not Iraq, is the war they really want!

Comments

[stevecaudill]

What should be the real knockout blow to the Iran chicken-hawks is the fact that the IAEA has never found a nuclear materials safeguards discrepancy in all of their inspections at Iranian sites. Iran has even signed the highly intrusive "Additional Safeguards Protocol" which allows IAEA inspectors short-notice access even to non nuclear-related sites.
I'm a former IAEA inspector and can state that the IAEA inspection regime is highly rigorous, and has incorporated the lessons-learned from the Iraqi clandestine nuclear program into their inspection procedures. In fact, many of the post-1991 Iraq inspection veterans are still among the IAEA staff, giving the IAEA much experience in ferreting out hidden nuclear proliferation activities and nuclear materials diversion from peaceful to military use.
What is confusing however, is the U.S. criticism of the IAEA inspections in Iran. The IAEA is one of the major cornerstones of U.S. nuclear non-proliferation policy, and the U.S. funds about 25-30 percent of the IAEA's annual budget.
The other "knockout blow" should be the on-record interviews of IAEA Director General Mohammed El-Baradei that the root cause of mid-East nuclear proliferation problems is the overtly secret Israeli nuclear arsenal. If the U.S. is serious about halting nuclear proliferation, it should force Israel to 'come clean' on its military nuclear program (as did such other countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Libya, South Africa, Sweden, and on two occasions Taiwan) and dismantle its arsenal.

[alexa07]

"Cirincione's piece should deliver a knockout blow to the Iran hawks, assuming neocons care about facts -- which they don't. Iran, not Iraq, is the war they really want!"

An American war with yet another Muslim nation would not make Israel safe from itself; nor would it help the American people in any way, but it would destroy many more American lives right here at home. More people hungry, destitute, without jobs, homes, any chance of educating their children for professional lives. It would make certain that the social

[alexa07]

sorry, oops. social programs such as Medicare & Social Security become at even greater risk. Universal health care? Forget any semblance of it. Our leaders seem to be more interested in safeguarding the vested interests in the region than they do about the health, education & welfare of the American people.

[WorkingClass]

China and Japan will not lend us the money for a world war because they will be on the other side. DANG IT. Oh well. I guess we will have to learn to live within our means and within our borders.

[PlaceboStudman]

Neo-cons don't just want war, they want their chance at Colonial Imperialism that they missed out on because Great Britian was in the region long before the US was even in existance. Neo-con's main, if not only objective in the middle east is to Evagelize the area, and while they're at it, procure and secure the oil fields to satisfy their own selfish greed and corruption, the money from which they would use to further Christianize the non-Christian world

[doriath22]

Unless and until the issue of Israel's nuclear arsenal is addressed, any talk of Middle East stabilization is meaningless and futile.

[Kaviraj]

Second that.

It strikes me as completely illogical to demand that an NPT signatory is not allowed to pursue its legitimate acquisition of nuclear power, while a non-signatory is not even pressed in joining the NPT. On top of that this country already has 200 nukes and nobody talks even about sanctions, for fear of being called anti-semitic. Truly a bizarre situation that weakens any attempt towards Iran. They can rightfully point to the fact that such double standards are plain hypocrisy.

[MrJoyboy]

Haven't you heard? Certain countries have a God-given right to nuclear weapons and the right to rule others.

[kilgore trout]

Pakistan anyone? Pakistan?