Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Iran and Time

The mainstream media’s coverage of Iran continues to suck. Joe Klein of TIME magazine just posted a short piece that mentioned “the discovery of the nuclear reactor at Qom, a secret facility that seems to have been built for research into weaponization. The Russians were as surprised by this as everyone else was.”

The nuclear facility he’s referring to is not a reactor; it’s a uranium enrichment plant. Perhaps Klein doesn’t understand the difference. Not everybody was surprised by the plants existence. We have known about its existence for years. The Iranians reveled its existence, months before it was required to under the Non-Proliferaton treaty, and it has given the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) full access to inspect it, and the IAEA says there is “nothing to be worried about.” IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei calls the site “a hole in a mountain.”

A story making the rounds of the echo chamber says that Iran’s disclosure of the Qom facility “raises questions about the existence of other such facilities.” What a crock of poppycock. We’d know if there were other sites like the one at Qom the same way we know about the one at Qom. Our spy satellites are rather good at picking up those sorts of things.

President Obama says “we are running out of time” for Iran to agree to the dope deal where they give Russia most of their uranium and Russia gives it to France. Obama and the rest of his witless security team need to take a time out. They intend to sit on the decision of whether or not to re-re-escalate the war in Afghanistan for December. Iran’s decision on what to do about their nuclear energy program is every bit as important to them as our decision about Afghanistan is, arguably even more important. We can probably afford to make a few more mistakes in Afghanistan and still remain the world’s sole superpower. A nuclear energy program is Iran’s only future. If they blow things now by giving up their right to refine their own uranium, they’re a bowl full of Shemps. It only makes sense for them to take their time figuring out their next step.

One hears that Iran is unstable, that its government and institutions are fractioned. One can also make that assessment of the United States. Our right-left, red-blue national debate has become so derisive as to be the laughingstock of the rest of the planet. America has become two countries. It’s as if we never fought the Civil War. Maps of red and blue states look nearly identical to pre-Civil War maps of slave states and territories and free states and territories. (That tells you something about the Rush Limbaugh/FOX News crowd, doesn’t it?)

We’ve heard a lot about how Iran’s latest election was stolen by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad though we really know nothing about that election. We know for sure that our puppet in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, stole two elections in matter of months, and we’re calling him a “legitimate” head of state. Who does Karzai think he is, George W. Bush? The upstart!

Ahmadinejad has said a lot of unfortunate things, probably for consumption in Iran and in the Muslim world, mostly about Israel, most of which has been misinterpreted and misquoted. But he’s hardly a Hitler, and he’s not the real power in Iran anyway. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is. (Khamenei has also had Agmadinijad’s president job, so he knows how power works in Iran.)

Iran has good reason to mistrust the west, especially American and Israel. We’ve been threatening to attack them for a long time. It’s little wonder that they built an enrichment facility in cave to protect it from being bombed, though that probably did them little good. We’re developing a new bunker buster bomb, a non-nuclear, 30,000-pound, precision-guided kahuna that contains more than ten times the explosive power or our present bunker busters, and our present bunker busters can bust the living daylights out of bunkers.

Iran wisely refuses to give up its “inalienable right” to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, and it would be insane to give up its prerogative to refine uranium. Iran’s desire to have a nuclear energy industry reflects a desire on its part to emerge as a regional economic power. We need to get used to the idea that emerging nations want to, uh, emerge, and start partnering with them.

Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. Our intelligence agencies, despite pressure from the neoconservative cabal, have certified as much, as has the International Atomic Energy Agency. There is serious question as to whether it ever had a nuclear weapons program at all.

Iran is doubtless keep a card up its sleeve, or is at least pretending to be, but none of the accusations made against it—from nuclear weapons ambitions to arming militants in Iraq and Afghanistan—have ever been backed up with genuine evidence.

Yes, we need to hold the Iranians’ feet to the fire, and we need to make them prove they’re not working toward building nuclear weapons, but we don’t need to rant and rave about them.

Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes at Pen and Sword. Jeff's novel Bathtub Admirals (Kunati Books), a lampoon on America's rise to global dominance, is on sale now.

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:29 AM

    To hell with havin Iran prove that they are not makeing nuclear weapons.
    It is important that the US give Iran one dozen nuclear weapons in useable condition. We only need to pick up the phone and tell them when the planes or ships carrying the weapons will be arriving and how long it will take for US specalists to train Iranian specialists to maintain the weapons and how to lauch them or activate them should they decide to use them against Israel or any other country that attacks them.
    These weapons will not affect the internal power struggle in Iran.
    It is more reasonable for Khameni to have control of these weapons than it is for US generals to have control of them. If the weapsons should come under the control of Montezerri or an Iranian (Euro)Communitst leader like La Fountaine so much the better. But of course that will not happen with the current US junta in power.
    They are not really interested in defeating Al Quida they need Al Quida to present as a boogeyman to the American public.
    There is also no legitemate reason that Israel or Saudi Arabia should be US allies.

    Just one small comment on the red blue state analogy. During the civil war there were not only blacks but some whites who supported a nortern victory. There were also whites in the north who were perfectly content to kick the south out of the union.
    Today the percentage of blue people in red states and the percetnage of red people in blue states is much higher than it was during the civil war. But the more important fact is that right now the whole country is being given a false choice between two sets of slave owning indian killers to run the country. Moderaes must become liberals, liberals must become radicals, radicals must become revolutionaries. and conservatives mush become devils advocaes if this country is to become a republic rather than a kindler gentler nazi empire.
    Sincerely,
    ME

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  2. Anonymous6:28 AM

    Oh blad nabbbit I forgot a very important part of the delivey of nuclear weapons to Iran. That is that arriving with this shipment will be Bush I, bush II, Rumsfeld,
    Chenney, and about a dozen retired Generals who were in charge of US forces when the US was aiding and abbeting the Iraqi government in their war of aggression against Iran.
    The Iranians will need time to prepare proper quiet accomodations for thier guests.

    Now Jeff one thing that you should understand. Consdiering my strategic position and the relationship that I have with NATO and the US military it is certianly plausible if not possible or even probable if not certian that the reason that I can get away with saying the things that I do is because the US military is using me to try to create the impression among Iranian hardliners that there is more resistance in the US military than what there really is so that the Iranian government will continue to maintian a principled stance in their disputes with the US and the US military will be manuvered in to the war that the leaders of the military industrial complex so badly want.
    Now you may wonder if I have come to this conclusion why I continue to play the role that I do. Well it is very simple. I hope that it will backfire of the military's leadership. I hope that by pretending that their is organized opposition in the US military to the official chain of command, and their nazi like policies, that such oppostion will actually be created in the process.
    Maybe I am a romantic fool.

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  3. More about your previous post than this one, Jeff, but still disturbing.

    Recruit kindergarteners

    I've never understood why you could join up and be trained to kill people at the age of eighteen but in some jurisdictions you can't legally buy a drink until you're twenty-one.

    All anybody has to do is think back to when they were eighteen and decide if their decisions were brilliant, well thought out and sensible.

    Then raise the recruitment age to 25+.

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  4. Fil,

    The younger you get them, the better. Younger minds are easier to warp.

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  5. Well sir, I agree with you on the "younger minds are easier to warp" statement. I was 19 when I enlisted in USMC. I didn't want to get drafted into the army. Hey, at that age you do dumb things. Very dumb, it was April 1968 when I did that. Well, live and hopefully learn.
    I do think I have learned a great deal since then. I am anti-war, unless this country is invaded, then I'll be here to defend OUR country. But no more damn fool wars of choice in places that are no threat to America. Yes, places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, the other "stans" in that region included. And yes, Vietnam was a bloody damn fool mistake, worse than that, it was totally stupid. As have every other war this country has got into since 1945. Of course the biggest stupid has to go to "saint" Woodrow and his idiotic entry into WW1. Both sides were near to calling it quits, a truce, then he jumps in. What a total fool. Remember, he used the slogan "he kept us out of war" to get re-elected. Talk about your liars. Makes Billy Bob Bubba look like a truth teller. In some regards, even worse than W. Shrub. My opinion.
    We need to get the old Constitutional republic back. Then take heed of what the founders told us, friendly trade with all, entangling alliances with none. Hey, we could even have decent health care and education for all then.
    Just my 2 cents worth for today.
    semper fi

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  6. Semper Fi, Charlie.

    Jeff

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  7. Anonymous4:12 PM

    I just saw this documentary on Al Jazzerra. It was one of the best documentaries that I have ever seen.
    It was called Witness-Bullets to Ballots- 2 Years On. It was the story about four female Maoist guerrillas in Nepal who survived the 10 year civil war there and their continuing struggle and success in the political process. It should be required viewing for every member of the US Armed Forces. Hell for that matter it should be required viewing for anyone who wants to call her/himself an honest educated person.
    Sincerely,
    Curt Kastens

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  8. Anonymous4:16 PM

    I forgot to mention that it is possible to see this documentary on Youtube.

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  9. Anonymous4:38 PM

    Wow - very enlightening. I also recommend the blog at IranAffairs.com -- the author makes a very good case that Iran's nuclear program was never really "secret" as widely claimed, and that the whole controversy over Iran's nuclear program is pretextual: the real agenda is to monopolize nuclear fuel technology.

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  10. Thanks for the tip! I've used it on my blog now.

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