WP: No Proof Found of Iran Arms Program

[Pirate Smile]

No Proof Found of Iran Arms Program
Uranium Traced to Pakistani Equipment

By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 23, 2005; Page A01

Traces of bomb-grade uranium found two years ago in Iran came from contaminated Pakistani equipment and is not evidence of a clandestine nuclear weapons program, a group of U.S. government experts and other international scientists has determined.

"The biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving is now eliminated with these conclusions," said a senior official who discussed the still-confidential findings on the condition of anonymity.

Scientists from the United States, France, Japan, Britain and Russia met in secret during the past nine months to pore over data collected by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to U.S. and foreign officials. Recently, the group, whose existence had not been previously reported, definitively matched samples of the highly enriched uranium -- a key ingredient for a nuclear weapon -- with centrifuge equipment turned over by the government of Pakistan.

Iran has long contended that the uranium traces were the result of contaminated equipment bought years ago from Pakistan. But the Bush administration had pointed to the material as evidence that Iran was making bomb-grade ingredients.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/22/AR2005082201447.html

Could these dumbasses possibly lose any more credibility? :eyes:

Next month Darth Cheney will give a speech citing "tract amounts of bomb-grade uranium" found as proving Iran is blah, blah, blah.

[NYC]

1. Iraq didn't have the WMD, either.

Bush will dismiss the part about the contamination from Pakistan, and do as he pleases.

[Pirate Smile]

8. Eekkk - Bolton!

"John R. Bolton, now U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who had served as the administration's point man on nuclear issues, suggested during congressional testimony in June 2004 that the Iranians were lying about the contamination.

"Another unmistakable indicator of Iran's intentions is the pattern of repeatedly lying to and providing false and incomplete reports to the IAEA," Bolton said. "

[Robeson]

2. Looks like its time for Bush to go back to the UN to present some...

...phoney evidence.

[not fooled]

17. Who will play the Colin Powell role this time???

They are running out of anyone with even a thin veneer of credibility to sell the next war at the UN. :eyes:

[Buns_of_Fire]

27. At this point, they could send Bozo the Clown, for as much as it matters

Or maybe they'll have Bolton present it himself. (Which would be about the same as sending Bozo, but I digress.) After all, who cares what the U.N. thinks? Not bushCo. It'll be deja vu all over again.

Ah, faith-based international relations. Gotta love it.

No, I'm serious, world. You GOTTA love it. Or else. :nuke:

[rocktivity]

19. DING DING DING! Robeson, you're our grand prize winner!

Looks like its time for Bush to go back to the UN to present some phony evidence.
A minor point, but a crucial one, especially since the world has seen that CNN program.

In choosing the word "phony," I hope you meant that the WMD evidence was "not real," as opposed to "not true." The WMD evidence was not the result of the alcohol-fueled ramblings of a notoriously unreliable informant, as the CNN program suggested. It was manufactured by Bush's Office of Special Plans and force-fed to the CIA.

:headbang:
rocknation

[grytpype]

3. Uh oh, better invade right away!

If they don't have any uranium that means they are trying to get some and we have to ATTACK before they have a chance to get some!

[Booster]

4. So...."Who cares whatcha think".

[tuvor]

5. Deja vu all over again.

[Coastie for Truth]

6. Senior official; ... condition of anonymity.

The "senior official who discussed the still-confidential findings on the condition of anonymity" - is Rove going to out his/her spouse? This is a job for Robert Novak.

[kestrel91316]

7. Georgie sez: Goodie gumdrops, let's go nuke them ragheads!!

[yorkiemommie1]

9. better save this article before it disappears down the

memory hole or gets the wording changed.

[genieroze]

10. Heck this sort of info didn't stop them from invading Iraq.

[Turbineguy]

11. No proof found of Iran nuclear arms program

Uranium traced to Pakistani equipment
By Dafna Linzer

Updated: 12:33 a.m. ET Aug. 23, 2005
Traces of bomb-grade uranium found two years ago in Iran came from contaminated Pakistani equipment and is not evidence of a clandestine nuclear weapons program, a group of U.S. government experts and other international scientists has determined.

"The biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving is now eliminated with these conclusions," said a senior official who discussed the still-confidential findings on the condition of anonymity.

Scientists from the United States, France, Japan, Britain and Russia met in secret during the past nine months to pore over data collected by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to U.S. and foreign officials. Recently, the group, whose existence had not been previously reported, definitively matched samples of the highly enriched uranium -- a key ingredient for a nuclear weapon -- with centrifuge equipment turned over by the government of Pakistan.



http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9046111/

Does this mean Bush will have to invent a new excuse to attack Iran?

[stubtoe]

12. It's deja vu all over again!

They'll probably just deny the credibility of this report and go for it anyway. Other bets, anyone?

[Javaman]

13. Iraq redux...

No proof? No Proof? We don't need no stinking proof! We will just make it up like we did last time.

[bearfan454]

14. Cheny will have the report changed and they will go in

like they did with Iraq.

[underpants]

15. Well then, What did they do with it?

We KNOW they had it, now there is none, so where did it go?

[rugger]

16. Like MP and the Holy Grail...BOMB THEM ANYWAY!!

This whole administration is as nonsensical as the witch burning scene

[calimary]

22. Welcome to DU!

You couldn't make this stuff up. Unfortunately, THEY could. And they have. And they still do.

[jsamuel]

18. EMAIL THIS OUT!!!

Everyone should see this.

[meganmonkey]

20. Oh boy - someone get some screenshots!

This is a miracle :P

[Al-CIAda]

21. nom'd.

[defiant1]

23. Darth Cheney...bahahaha...

**Cues Imperial March**

[Supersedeas]

24. but but but FOX news has been beating the War Drums...for naught

[FlyByNight]

25. It looks as if the Bush Administration will have to...

"fix" more intelligence around yet another invasion policy.

It seems that the less evidence they actually have the more likely the administration is to invade.

:wow:

[mantis49]

26. Someone linked to an article on this in

The Independent in the U.K. last week. I wondered if the U.S. media would pick it up or not.

Or would they bury it like they did the UN weapons inspector reports on WMDs in Iraq to allow * to invade Iran?

Well, well. Is the MSM waking up?

[Buns_of_Fire]

28. No proof? Hey, that's just the proof boosh* needs!

Or, as Our Glorious Secretary of War Rumfilled once said, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Or something like that. I couldn't quite hear him over my retching.

Meanwhile, Commander Codpiece is probably jumping up and down in his Dr. Dentons (embroidered with the Presidental Seal, of course), saying, "Do I get to push the red button now? Huh? Can I? Can I?"

[LeftNYC]

29. Dudes, dont you know that the smoking gun

could come in the form of a mushroom cloud...:sarcasm: where have ya'll been?