Iran nuclear "threat" hyped: IAEA's ElBaradei

[Prometheus Bound]

Source: Reuters

Wed Sep 2, 2009 12:00pm EDT
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is not going to produce a nuclear weapon any time soon and the threat posed by its atomic program has been exaggerated, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief said in a published interview.

The West suspects Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapons capability under the guise of a declared civilian atomic energy program. Tehran rejects the charge, saying its uranium enrichment program is a peaceful way to generate electricity.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there was no concrete evidence that Tehran has an ongoing nuclear weapons program. "But somehow, many people are talking about how Iran's nuclear program is the greatest threat to the world. In many ways, I think the threat has been hyped," he told the specialist Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

ElBaradei said ....the idea that we'll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have a nuclear weapon is an idea that isn't supported by the facts as we have seen them so far,"...

The interview was conducted in July but released late on Tuesday.

September 2, 2009
Iran’s nuclear threat ‘hyped’, atomic watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei says
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6817787.ece

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5811V120090902

[bamacrat]

1. Ooh just got some mad crazy deja vu.

Good thing Bush isn't the president that's all the evidence he would need. The evidence of nothing.

[Prometheus Bound]

2. "I don't know what more evidence we need," crowed Bush.

Well do I remember the war criminal's words.

[Prometheus Bound]

3. Wall Street Journal: Conflict is inevitable unless the West moves quickly to stop a nuclear Tehran.

The warmongers are hitting out with the propaganda.

Summary
- ElBaradei is an apologist for Iran
- Iran is marching towards a bomb
- Israel has no choice

AUGUST 30, 2009, 11:20 P.M. ET
Israel, Iran and Obama
Conflict is inevitable unless the West moves quickly to stop a nuclear Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has produced another alarming report on Iran's nuclear programs, though it hasn't released it publicly, only to governments that would also rather not disclose more details of Iran's progress toward becoming a nuclear theocracy. Meanwhile, Iran intends to introduce a resolution, backed by more than 100 members of the so-called Non-Aligned Movement, that would ban military attacks on nuclear facilities. No actual mention of Israel, of course.

The mullahs understand that the only real challenge to their nuclear ambitions is likely to come from Israel. They've long concluded that the U.N. is no threat, as IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has in practice become an apologist for Iran's program. They can also see that the West lacks the will to do anything, as the Obama Administration continues to plead for Tehran to negotiate even as Iran holds show trials of opposition leaders and journalists for saying the recent re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was fraudulent. The irony is that the weaker the West and U.N. appear, the more probable an Israeli attack becomes.

The reality that Western leaders don't want to admit is that preventing Iran from getting the bomb is an Israeli national imperative, not a mere policy choice. That's a view shared across Israel's political spectrum, from traditional hawks like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to current Defense Minister and former Labor Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Israelis can see the relentless progress Iran is making toward enriching uranium, building a plutonium-breeding facility and improving on its ballistic missiles—all the while violating U.N. sanctions without consequence. Iran's march to the bomb also alarms its Arab neighbors, but it represents an existential threat to an Israeli nation that Iran has promised to destroy and has waged decades of proxy war against.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203863204574348533106427974.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Ghost Dog]

5. Was this written by Judy Miller?

Do not underestimate the power of such pure propaganda.

[Prometheus Bound]

7. Here is an excellent analysis of how the NY Times propaganda system works re Iran .

It's a long read but very interesting.

About the laptop allegedly smuggled out of Iran: The Times used to say the IAEA "cannot definitively authenticate them or tie them to Iran."

Now the Times has changed that to “that they are probably genuine”, even though ElBaradei and the IAEA still call them the ‘alleged studies’ documents.

They have built a story that implies that the IAEA is covering up for Iran.

Anyway, Jeremy Hammond, the editor of Foreign Policy Journal picks it apart quite nicely. It seems the Times has no shortage of aspiring Judith Millers.

The New York Times’ ‘fit to print’ version of the IAEA in Iran
August 31, 2009
by Jeremy R. Hammond
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/08/31/the-new-york-times-fit-to-print-version-of-the-iaea-in-iran/

[Union Yes]

4. Ya mean we were lied to? can't be, say it ain't so.

:silly: :sarcasm: :silly:


I'm wondering if there was ever a shred of truth coming from the Bushco reich wing propaganda machine.

[dipsydoodle]

6. Guess they'll need to find something else

to keep the USA's military defense industry propped up. :sarcasm:

[bemildred]

8. Yellow cake!! Yellow cake!! Unplugged baby incubators!! Raped nuns!!

Do you ever wonder what sort of sick minds it takes to be a good propagandist?

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. What would Iran even DO with a nuke or even a dozen of them, besides keeping the USA off their ass?

.
.
.

Israel has hundreds, so does China - Russia and the USA have THOUSANDS - AND A DELIVERY SYSTEM GLOBALLY CAPABLE.

USA spent ten years emasculating Iraq before it invaded - did their no-fly zone thing while weakening Iraq with inhuman sanctions from the UN - and without provocation invaded and occupied Iraq - and are still there.

Ya think Iran is stupid?

USA will never be able to do to Iran what it did to Iraq.

And I suspect Russia and China will help to prevent further USA incursion on their borders.

Pakistan and India will only put up with so much USA interference also.

The whole EU is quite aware of what the USA has done, and is still doing to/in Iraq.

It's just another forward base for the USA's Global Empire thing.

PNAC - Doomed to fail, but killing millions in its death throes

(sigh)