By Ben Cohen
The Bush Administration was caught up in another hugely embarrassing scandal this week, when it was revealed by a U.S intelligence report that Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Having
been through months of escalating rhetoric (World War 3, a nuclear attack on Israel etc), the report poured cold water on the idea that Iran posed an 'imminent threat' to the U.S. The Bush Administration has been caught red handed given it knew about the report when it came out. Not to be dissuaded by the facts, Bush is doing his best to convince everyone that the report actually proves Iran is even more of a threat.
From the New York Times:
President Bush warned today that Iran remained a threat despite an intelligence assessment that it had halted a covert program to develop nuclear weapons four years ago, as the administration struggled to salvage a diplomatic process now in disarray.
Once again facing criticism over the handling — and meaning — of intelligence reports, Mr. Bush said the new assessment underscored the need to intensify international efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
He said Iran could not be entrusted with acquiring even the scientific knowledge to enrich uranium for peaceful civilian use, explicitly declaring for the first time what has been an underlying premise of the Bush administration’s policy. He also appeared to rule out any new diplomatic initiative with the current president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Look, Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous, and Iran will be dangerous, if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Bush said, sounding defensive at times, during a news conference dominated by questions about the assessment, known as a National Intelligence Estimate. “What’s to say they couldn’t start another covert nuclear weapons program?”
To read the full article, click here.
