The Imaginary Iranian Nuclear Threat

Dec 17, 2007

Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapons program. The program it did have was stopped in fall 2003 and has not been restarted. This is the conclusion of the National Intelligence Estimate made public on December 3rd by 16 U.S. spy agencies.

This information was first delivered to the Bush Administration four months ago. It was well known when the U.S. pushed other political leaders to take sanctions against Iran. In other words, Bush was lying when he accused Iran of threatening the Middle East with a “nuclear holocaust” which could lead to “World War III.”

Remember what was said about the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” that Iraq was supposed to have. Several years after the start of the war, investigators finally proved that the Bush administration knew perfectly well that such weapons existed only in the propaganda used to justify the U.S. war. And, as has come out since, the top Democrats knew the same thing, while pretending to believe the threat of WMD’s.

This report was not released now by accident. With less than a year before the presidential election, the publication of this report could profit Bush’s opponents, among Democrats as well as among Republicans, who want to appear less warlike to win the votes of people opposed to the wars. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan provoke more and more opposition in the U.S. Even parts of the military hierarchy don’t want to extend the conflict to other Middle East countries.

On the other hand, the publication of this report could be a pretext for lowering the rhetoric about Iran a little. And, in fact, the Bush administration has been talking to the Iranian government to use its influence to stabilize the situation in Iraq.

Whatever the reason for publishing this report now, it only confirms one thing: all these claims about weapons of mass destruction and terrorist threats come from people who lie just as easily as they breathe.