US Selectively Sharing "Intelligence" With IAEA And News Media To Make Case For Sanctions on Iran And .....

Again parts of the news media are growing sceptical about information the US is passing out on an important world issues.

An AP article at Yahoo! News "US intel links Iran with nuke bomb bid " dutifully reports that diplomats are leaking the news that

The U.S. has shared new intelligence with the International Atomic Energy Agency that it claims is evidence Iran was trying to make a nuclear weapon...

...Washington also gave the IAEA permission to confront Iran with at least some of the information in an attempt to pry details out of the Islamic republic as part of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's attempts to investigate Iran's suspicious nuclear past.

...such moves by the U.S. administration would be a reflection of Washington's' drive to pressure Iran into acknowledging that it had focused part of its nuclear efforts toward developing a weapons program.

Interestingly, this is exactly the same method used by our government to 'indict' North Korea, continually insisting that the country not only had a second nuclear program, but insisting that it had proof of the second one, though they never seemed to prove it anywhere but among certain groups of Americans susceptible to such propaganda.

In fact, the world as a whole still isn't convinced that NK blew up a nuclear weapon, and most nations are honest enough to note that the "nuke", if it was one, was a dud, or even a large conventional bomb made dirty by incorporating lots of radioactive material.

The AP report says the US is seeking a third level of sanctions.

But many people see the same march towards war on Iran that was undertaken before the invasion of Iraq.  And experts warn that even a bombing of assumed nuclear facilities in Iran will lead to a wide scale invasion of Iran for regime change, which would necessitate a draft because Iran has a much larger and stronger military and defense systems and could kill up to 250,000 troops.

But the AP article also shows some skepticism and notes:

While the Americans have previously declassified and then forwarded intelligence to the IAEA to help its investigations, they do so on a selective basis.

Following Israel's bombing of a Syrian site late last year, and media reports citing unidentified U.S. officials as saying the target was a nuclear installation, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei turned in vain to the U.S. in asking for details on what was struck, said a diplomat who — like others — spoke on condition of anonymity in exchange for divulging confidential information.

To read about that incident see Seymour Hersh's Feb 11, 2008 report in the New Yorker "A Strike in the Dark --What did Israel bomb in Syria ?". 

The AP and a New York Times article "In a Reversal, U.S. Agrees to Produce Data Pointing to Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions " wonder if the Bush administration will turn over evidence found on a laptop smuggled out of Iran in 2005 with the Times surmising that the Bush administration may offer a sanitized version of the information contained therein.  It sounds like the phony act they had Colin Powell play in front of the  Security Council in early 2003, with the Secretary of State holding up a vial of "weaponized anthrax", and presenting pictures with circle and squares, etc on them as "proof" of WMD production in Iraq.   The Times also  notes:

The publication of the new [(National Intellience)] estimate in early December undercut efforts to toughen sanctions

 and many Americans believe to do what candidate John McCain described during at least one campaign event as "bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran!" (sung to the tune of Barbara Ann).

tags: iran  nuclear program  natanz  mccain  seymour hersh  syria  israel  

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