No evidence of Iranian Nuke Program.
For all of the scaremongering that the Bush administration is engaging in, it turns out that there is no evidence of any Iranian nuclear program whatsoever. This means that their claims of Iran developing some kind of a nuclear program is nothing more than a crackpot conspiracy theory and a desperate attempt to deflect attention from their failure in Iraq.
And for all the blustering and threatening that the Bush administration is engaging in, the fact of the matter that the president can't even get his own government on the same page. On the one hand, his own Vice President is claiming that Iran is actively developing nukes, a claim that is disputed by almost every reasonable person out there. But on the other hand, his own Deputy Secretary of State, Nicholas Burns, says that they are not, as did another official within the administration. So, who is right, Mr. President? Your Vice President, or your Deputy Secretary of State?
And even though Iran did not cooperate with the UN for 18 years, for the last few years, it has been more compliant. And as a result of these UN inspections, the head of the IAEA, Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, said that there was no evidence of any nuclear program. All of this bluster reflects more on the President than it does on Iran. George Bush is so out of touch that he doesn't know or doesn't care that his State Department and his Vice President are not on the same page, and he is out of touch with the head of the IAEA, who would be in as much of a position to know about Iran's program as anyone.
Now, Iran has not been totally compliant with the UN. For instance, they failed to disclose that they have sought to purchase P2 centrifuges, which would be much more efficient than P1. But it does not follow that they are therefore producing nukes at all. If they are simply trying to make their plants more efficient, then that is not a violation of any international treaties. Among other issues:
Project 111
The CIA turned evidence from Project 111, allegedly a blueprint of how to build a nuke, to the IAEA. However, how are we supposed to know that this evidence was not obtained by torture? Or that some bounty hunter turned this over in order to collect some large reward? Nobody will say. And experts who are highly familiar with the Iranian nuclear program doubt its authenticity:
Muhammad Sahimi, a professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Southern California who emigrated from Iran in 1978 and has analyzed Iran's nuclear program closely, dismissed the materials as "totally not believable." Noting how carefully Iranian intelligence agencies monitor the program and the borders, he said, "If the laptop did exist, I find it hard to believe that its absence wasn't noticed for so long that somebody could take it out of Iran."
Uranium Hemisphere Document
We know that Iran got these from the AQ Khan Network; these have no practical application as far as power plants are concerned. But it is really telling that the Bush administration is not trying to go after AQ Khan, since they are spreading their technology around the world. But the documents in question are now under lock and seal.
Polonium 210
Iran has never worked on this material, which is used only on warheads, since 1993.
And on top of this, it makes perfect sense for Iran to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
But Sahimi argued that given the skyrocketing price of oil and natural gas, it makes more sense for Iran to export as much petroleum and natural gas as possible and fill its power needs with nuclear-generated electricity. "The price of uranium since 2001 has increased by 800 percent. Iran's presently known resources can supply enriched uranium for seven reactors for 15 years," he said. "It would be foolish not to go after a domestic uranium facility ... given that, the price of enriched uranium, and the political obstacles and hindrance (Iran faces) if it decides to rely on outside suppliers."
Obamathon
