Jon Christian Ryter -- Iranian Nuke?

IRANIAN NUKE?

By Jon Christian Ryter

November 28, 2005

NewsWithViews.com

When Bush coined the phrase "axis of evil" to describe the nuclear aspirations of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, he was accused of trying to justify his Iraqi excursion and further, of trying to bait both Iran and North Korea. Furthermore, the Democratic leadership accused Bush of trying to push Iran over the brink so that he could expand his Iraqi excursion to include Iran�and perhaps Syria.

With Bush's "axis of evil" allegation came denials from the Iranians who insisted they had no nuclear weapons aspirations. Iran�a nation with enough oil to light up every corner of their nation with cheap electricity, insisted their efforts to enrich uranium were centered on creating cheap nuclear energy so their oil could be sold to their neighbors.

A report released last week by the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA], while circumstantial, includes information on Iran's guided missile program and work that has been completed in Iran on what is construed to be a nuclear warhead for the Shahab-3 missile.

An anonymous Bush Administration official told Bill Gertz of the Washington Times that "...[i]n terms of Iran's pattern of behavior, it's a very clear picture that they are hiding and deceiving the world about their nuclear arms program by claiming it is for peaceful purposes. They have clearly lied, and they keep getting caught in one lie after another."

However, when you have agendized liberals in Congress and antiwar organizations like MoveOn.org, Code Pink, Not In My Name and Not In Our Name insisting that the Iranians are telling the truth and the Bush Administration is trying to expand his Iraqi war into both Syria and Iran, the liberal smoke and mirrors muddies the truth and divides the nation between those who believe one side over the other.

However, data retrieved from an Iranian official's laptop computer that was secured by US intelligence revealed that from 2001 to 2003 the Iranian military was trying to redesign the Shahab-3 to expand its 620-mile range to reach targets in Europe. The documents on the laptop show details of the redesign efforts and the development of what, in terms of shape and size, could only be nuclear warhead prototypes. Further, the data verifies that the Iranians were actual developing the weapons systems. It was not a hypothetical exercise by a starry-eyed nuclear bomb visionary.�it was a plan in motion.

Administration officials told the Washington Times that the data on the laptop was different from the nuclear weapons data that Iran obtained from Pakistan. The documents revealed that Pakistani arms dealer Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, supplied nuclear enrichment technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Also on the computer were Chinese language instructions on how make nuclear warheads small enough for missiles�or to fit in suitcases. Khan is now under house arrest in Pakistan.

Khan's participation in the nuclear bomb black market was revealed by a Sri Lankan, Buhary Sayed Abu Tahir who was taken into custody in October, 2003. Tahir was arrested shortly after Italian coast guard cutters pulled alongside a German-flagged Chinese merchant ship bound for Libya and found approximately 10,000 P-2 gas centrifuges designed specifically for making nuclear weapons. (It was this discovery, and the arrest of Tahir, that forced Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi to finally admit he had been trying to build a nuclear bomb. To keep Stealth fighter-bombers from paying him another visit, Qadhafi renounced his WMD program in December, 2003.)

Most Pakistanis believe Khan is a brilliant scientist who designed the first Islamic nuclear bomb. In point of fact, Khan worked for the Dutch firm, Urenco, in the 1970s as a research scientist with access to the blueprints for the Dutch uranium enrichment technology. He copied the blueprints and brought the technology back to Pakistan. Even though Khan is under arrest, the government of Pakistan has refused to allow any western intelligence people to interrogate him. During the past decade captured documents reveal that Khan met with the leaders of Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, North Korea, Sudan�and our closest Arab ally, Saudi Arabia.

Tahir used a publicly-traded Malaysian engineering company called Scomi Precision Engineering to manufacture the centrifuge components he needed. The components were then shipped to Tahir's computer software company, SMB Computers in Dubai, where the final leg of the delivery to Libya was arranged. Also found in the documents were reports dating back to the 1970s and 80s detailing how Iran, working through the Khan network, obtained diagrams showing how to convert enriched uranium into nuclear warheads.

For much of the last year, the United States and England have pushed the UN to get forcibly involved in demanding that Iran dismantle the uranium enrichment facilities they have built near Parchin, Hamsin, Towchal and Tehran�or suffer the consequences. The United States and England have proposed resolutions that would allow a military solution if Iran fails to get out of the nuclear bomb business. For most of that time, Tehran has relied on Beijing and Moscow to run interference with the UN, insisting that Iran is not, nor ever was, engaged in the business of nuclear bomb building. Helping them by applying pressure on the Bush Administration are the the same antiwar liberals in Congress and in the media who want Israel to give up their land to the Palestinian terrorists and who turned tail and ran from Vietnam, letting 55,000 American soldiers die in vain.

Now that the evidence that the Arab nations in the Mideast have been trying to develop nuclear weapons can no longer be disputed by intelligent minds, the Russians have pretty much been obligated to publicly support efforts by the United States and European Union to push Iran to agree that Tehran will not create weapons grade yellowcake. A plan was advanced in the last few weeks that would transfer all Iranian enrichment programs from Iran to Russia�with Russian scientists in charge of enrichment to make sure than the yellowcake created cannot be used in nuclear weapons. Even though the evidence overwhelmingly supports the view that Tehran is trying to create nuclear weapons, the Iranian government continues to insist that it only wants to generate cheap nuclear power for electricity.

Gregory Schulte, the US Ambassador to the IAEA, said that Iran lacks enough "native" uranium to fuel even the smallest nuclear energy facility. He noted, however, that as small as it is, the supply of uranium available in Iran is sufficient to build a sizable stockpile of nuclear weapons. Alireza Jafarzadeh, the former spokesman for National Council of Resistance of Iran said in a press conference last week that he has discovered a large-scale Iranian military nuclear weapons facility concealed in a tunnel system near Khojir that was built with the help of the North Koreans. The interlocking tunnel network of underground laboratories and research labs cover an area approximately 4 miles wide and 12 miles long. Schulte concluded that "...this is not the sign of a peaceful program."

It has been clear to the American intelligence community for quite some time that the Muslim world is very secretly trying to develop an arsenal of nuclear weapons that can be used against Israel and, if needed, against the industrialized nations�particularly the United States. There is little doubt that Iraq, like Libya and Iran, was trying to develop nuclear weapons when American forces struck on March 20, 2003. It is likely that as the American troop build-up began, Saddam ordered whatever contraband weapons he had in his arsenal, or those he was working on, transferred to either Syria or Iran�or to both for safe keeping until the war was over. Saddam likely believed that when the war ended he would still be in power, as he was in 1991.

With the arrests of Kahn and Tahir the military intelligence agencies of the European Union and the United States have slowed down the black market trade of both the components needed to build centrifuges and the fissionable material needed to produce yellowcake. However, as long as there is a demand for nuclear weapons�and those seeking fissionable material have the money to buy yellowcake, black market suppliers will find ways to make the sale.

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Sooner or later, if they have not yet done so, the Wahabbi terrorists, or those who supply them, will get their hands on a nuclear devise. When they do, the people of the world�most of whom believe that wars are always fought only between nations�will realize that a group of Islamic extremists declared jihad�a Holy war�on the entire world on September 11, 2001.