Reply #2: Timing is everthing -- we have at least five years

[HamdenRice]

Do you know how long it takes to make enough enriched uranium to make a weapon? Most estimates are that even if Iran is trying to make a weapon, they won't have one for about five years.

The reason the administration is trying to make this sound urgent is that neither the US nor Israel is willing to bomb a nuclear power plant that has an active radioactive pile, because that would spew contamination across the country.

The false deadline they are trying to impose is to bomb the plant before it is loaded with uranium.

The alternative would be to let the Iranians start the process and try to bring the regime back into the international community within the five years or so that we have before they could possess a weapon. This almost was achieved under President Khatami, but the invasion of Iraq and US saber rattling has radicalized Iran's electorate.