Friday, February 20, 2009
The Iranian nuclear bogeyman
In the latest in a long-running series, the Iranian nuclear bogeyman raises its non-existent head in today's scary headline:
There is just one problem with the headline...it's contradicted by the very first sentence of the article which follows [emphasis added]:Iran has enough nuclear fuel for bomb, experts say
Iran has enough nuclear fuel to build a bomb if it decides to take the drastic steps of violating its international treaty obligations, kicking out inspectors and further refining its supply, U.N. officials and arms-control experts said Thursday.Right. Other than those "ifs," Iran "has" enough fuel. In other words, it doesn't.
Of course, nothing here was surprising. What nearly caused me to fall off my chair, however, was the very last sentence of the article:
Iran steadfastly denies it seeks to build an atomic bomb, which Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says violates principles of Islam.I've been calling attention to Khamenei's opposition (in the form of a "fatwa" no less) for three years now, but this might just be the first time I've ever seen reference to that opposition in the corporate media (if not the very first, it's certainly as rare as a Democratic politician willing to speak the truth on the subject).
