Red State Renegade

The AP reported today that the U.S. demanded that Iran confess to trying to make atomic weapons, “suggesting that anything short of that would doom an International Atomic Energy Agency probe of Tehran’s nuclear past.”

The probe in question is being led by the AIAE chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, and is expected to be completed in about a week. Iran has steadfastly denied working on nuclear weapons program, a claim seemingly backed up by the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran (a document prepared by 16 U.S. Intelligence agencies), which stated that:

“We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program. Judge with high confidence that the halt lasted at least several years. (DOE and the NIC have moderate confidence that the halt to those activities represents a halt to Iran’s entire nuclear weapons program.) Assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007″

If the Iranians were readily willing to confess to such a weapons program, why would the IAEA need to investigate the state of the program? How can the integrity of such an investigation rest solely on a ‘confession’?

Perhaps they are afraid the IAEA report might fall short of their hopes and expectations?.

After the release of the NIE, and the amateurish effort to create a Gulf-of-Tonkin type incident in the persian gulf in January, a disappointing report would be another setback in the efforts of the war party to drum up support for yet another disastrous war…

We are in an election year, and the only shot for the Republicans is selling the fear.