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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Gates: Too Late to Stop Iran From Making Nuclear Weapons |
| 2009-09-28 |
| A top official in the Obama Administration has at last admitted what intelligence agents and Israeli government officials have been warning about for years: Iran intends to build a nuclear arsenal. In media interviews with American television news networks scheduled to air Sunday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said bluntly, "The Iranians have the intention of having nuclear weapons." The statement was made just days after the discovery of a covert uranium enrichment site in Iran. Even as the world expressed its outrage, however, Gates pointed out that there was little left to be done about it. "The reality is there is no military option that does anything more than buy time," he told CNN. "The estimates are three years or so." In a separate interview with ABC News, he noted that Iran had engaged in "a pattern of deception and lies... from the very beginning," even as it claimed it was developing nuclear power for peaceful domestic energy purposes. "If this were a peaceful nuclear program, why didn't they announce this site when they began to construct it?" Gates asked. "Why didn't they allow IAEA inspectors in from the very beginning?" International leaders demanded the Islamic Republic immediately disclose all its nuclear efforts, including any programs involving weapons development, or face the consequences. "The Iranian government must now demonstrate through deeds its peaceful intentions, or be held accountable to international standards and international law," said U.S. President Barack Obama following the discovery. In a statement made at the G-20 meeting in Europe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Obama ordered Iran to allow the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the newly revealed site. "We will not let this matter rest," Brown said. Sarkozy noted that the G-6 had given Iran until December to comply or face additional, intensified economic sanctions. While Iran is to meet with the U.S. and others next week to discuss its nuclear program, however, it is planning to conduct war games on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. The announcement of the drill, which will include firing missiles that can hit Israel, was made at the same time the covert uranium enrichment site was revealed. "Allah willing, this plant will be put into operation soon and will blind the eyes of the enemies," boasted Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the head of the office of the Supreme Leader. The Revolutionary Guards website said over the weekend that military exercises, including the simultaneous firing of missiles at targets, will begin Sunday and last for several days. Israeli officials do not necessarily agree that the military option would be ineffective. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi last week politely warned the Islamic Republic that the Jewish State is prepared to defend itself against any nuclear or other attack it might launch. "We all understand that the best way of coping [with the Iranian nuclear threat] is through international sanctions," Ashkenazi told an interviewer on IDF Army Radio. However, he added, "Israel has the right to defend itself, and all options are open. The IDF's working premise is that we have to be prepared for that possibility, and that is exactly what we are doing." |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #12 So, translation: Nonproliferation is a crock. Any country that really wants nuclear weapons can have them and there isn't squat anyone is going to do about it. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2009-09-28 23:47 |
| #11 Strange. The SecDef says Iran is building nuclear weapons. The CIA says they definitely are not, and that Iran stopped its program in 2003. The intelligence services of Israel, France, and Germany side with the SecDef. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/middleeast/29nuke.html The CIA is nothing. |
| Posted by: Maggie Ebbuter2991 2009-09-28 23:46 |
| #10 er... U232. little dyslexic typing there |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2009-09-28 22:31 |
| #9 for dirty bomb, U323 would work just fine. it doenst have to actually be dangerous, but the absolute public hysteria of 'oh m god, they dusted us with radioactive uranium' would be fit the terror motif just fine. and the cost of cleaning up... staggering |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2009-09-28 22:30 |
| #8 Wouldn't U235 make a simply wonderful dirty bomb? Released as dust in a crowded tunnel or perhaps Grand Central Station... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-09-28 22:11 |
| #7 The question is what are they going to use their enriched U235 for? Making weapons out of uranium fissile material is not suitable for air or space delivery. Here's my WAG. I think that they are making U235 for a third party, like the Norks, to make into Pu239. From there it can be made into cores and nuclear weapons to stack on missiles. The Bushehr reactor is too vulnerable for the job. Or the Iranians are building some terror weapons, which would be a DS thing to do. But firing off Shahab-3s in tests is just another way to intimidate. Whatever their aims are, they have made enough serious threats to many of us that they must be dealt with. It is too bad that the Big O is on the side of the MMs. The people need support, and the US, by word and deed (even covertly) has failed them. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2009-09-28 21:21 |
| #6 Where is the electricity coming from that runs these centrifuges? It has to be consuming something above 10% of their national ability to generate power. It can't possibly take more than 100 sorties to turn off their ability to generate and transmit electricity. Plus another 100 sorties for air superiority while it is done. Send a diplomatic note through the the Russians and Chinese. If they don't verifiably dismantle everything, then send their country back into the 19th century. It's not the 12th, but it will do for today. |
| Posted by: rammer 2009-09-28 21:04 |
| #5 Which makes me wonder what the US was so afraid of. And still is. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-09-28 20:31 |
| #4 And I'm sure the US knew this was coming long, long ago. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-09-28 20:25 |
| #3 Too late if you haven't the stones to do what needs to be done. Whomp them and stand back and let them figure it out. Rinse and repeat as necessary. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-09-28 20:25 |
| #2 There was never any way to prevent any country from getting nukes. The trick is to get them from using them. MAD worked with the Ruskies because they were no longer revolutionaries by the time they got the Nukes. I doubt the Norks are revolutionaries. But the Persians are. They will use them or give them to terrs to use or use them and appear to be terrs. In any case, we should let them know that if any nuke goes off and we don't know where it came from via radar/satellites, we'll assume it came from them and we will destroy every living thing in their country. Pour l'encouragement d'les autres. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-09-28 19:34 |
| #1 Gates merely states the obvious. The fact is that there simply isn't a peaceful way of stopping Iran, North Korea, or any other nation that is intent on getting a few nuclear weapons. The best solution I see is to let the nation(s) with the most at state take things in their own hands. Israel will stand up to the task with any one of it's neighbors, but there doesn't seem to be anyone willing to take the risk. The question im my mind is who will stand up to Syria, Venezuala and others as they acquire their own nukes. The technology, long out of most nations hands, is becoming more and available. There is no long term plan here, at least that I'm aware of. Within 30 years, the number of nuclear nation could exceed 20. Detent will reach a magnitude never seen before. One nut job blows and the ripple effect could be bigger than ever imagined during the Cold War. Not just USSR and US targets, but a ripple effect could spread over every continent. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-09-28 19:28 |