Friday
Nov212008
Panic! The Iran Bomb!
Friday, November 21, 2008 at 8:03
Geez, I go away for a few days and the world falls apart. First, Al-Qa'eda starts calling President-elect Obama a "house Negro".
That, however, is a close second in the Run-For-Your-Lives contest: Number One is the bomb that Iran is going to drop on us.
This lead paragraph from Thursday's New York Times:
Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.
The reporters remind us, "Iran insists that it wants only to fuel reactors for nuclear power. But many Western nations, led by the United States, suspect that its real goal is to gain the ability to make nuclear weapons." "Experts" were trotted out to assure, "[The Iranians] are marching down the path to developing the nuclear weapons option.” So....
For President-elect Barack Obama, the report underscores the magnitude of the problem that he will inherit Jan. 20: an Iranian nuclear program that has not only solved many technical problems of uranium enrichment, but that can also now credibly claim to possess enough material to make a weapon if negotiations with Europe and the United States break down.
Well, I have to admit that this revelation upset me a bit. It's going to be hard to enjoy the Tivoli Gardens and the National Museum when I'm watching the sky for nuclear annihilation. Even more upsetting, however, is the realisation --- on closer reading of the story --- that this report is closer to panic than analysis.
Two paragraphs after proclaiming the imminence of the bomb, the article drops in:
Several experts said that [amount of low-enriched uranium] was enough for a bomb, but they cautioned that the milestone was mostly symbolic, because Iran would have to take additional steps. Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved.
Hmm....that might be significant, especially if the reader can make the effort to link it to the minor details --- five paragraphs later:
American intelligence agencies have said Iran could make a bomb between 2009 and 2015. A national intelligence estimate made public late last year concluded that around the end of 2003, after long effort, Iran had halted work on an actual weapon.
A reader from Birmingham adds:
It's tiresome to see this continual alarmist reporting on what really are routine, benign matters. And what's particular crazy is the claim that Iran almost has enough low-enriched uranium to produce one bomb. Such a bomb would have to be tested. Then there would be uranium for zero bombs.
I hope people don't take such reporting seriously.
Me, too. Otherwise, I might confuse the Christmas lights here for signs of our imminent doom.
That, however, is a close second in the Run-For-Your-Lives contest: Number One is the bomb that Iran is going to drop on us.
This lead paragraph from Thursday's New York Times:
Iran has now produced roughly enough nuclear material to make, with added purification, a single atom bomb, according to nuclear experts analyzing the latest report from global atomic inspectors.
The reporters remind us, "Iran insists that it wants only to fuel reactors for nuclear power. But many Western nations, led by the United States, suspect that its real goal is to gain the ability to make nuclear weapons." "Experts" were trotted out to assure, "[The Iranians] are marching down the path to developing the nuclear weapons option.” So....
For President-elect Barack Obama, the report underscores the magnitude of the problem that he will inherit Jan. 20: an Iranian nuclear program that has not only solved many technical problems of uranium enrichment, but that can also now credibly claim to possess enough material to make a weapon if negotiations with Europe and the United States break down.
Well, I have to admit that this revelation upset me a bit. It's going to be hard to enjoy the Tivoli Gardens and the National Museum when I'm watching the sky for nuclear annihilation. Even more upsetting, however, is the realisation --- on closer reading of the story --- that this report is closer to panic than analysis.
Two paragraphs after proclaiming the imminence of the bomb, the article drops in:
Several experts said that [amount of low-enriched uranium] was enough for a bomb, but they cautioned that the milestone was mostly symbolic, because Iran would have to take additional steps. Not only would it have to breach its international agreements and kick out the inspectors, but it would also have to further purify the fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that Western experts are unsure Iran has yet achieved.
Hmm....that might be significant, especially if the reader can make the effort to link it to the minor details --- five paragraphs later:
American intelligence agencies have said Iran could make a bomb between 2009 and 2015. A national intelligence estimate made public late last year concluded that around the end of 2003, after long effort, Iran had halted work on an actual weapon.
A reader from Birmingham adds:
It's tiresome to see this continual alarmist reporting on what really are routine, benign matters. And what's particular crazy is the claim that Iran almost has enough low-enriched uranium to produce one bomb. Such a bomb would have to be tested. Then there would be uranium for zero bombs.
I hope people don't take such reporting seriously.
Me, too. Otherwise, I might confuse the Christmas lights here for signs of our imminent doom.