After all the chatter in the news about Iran today, I confessed to Seth that I was worried I was turning into a conspiracy theorist because I was starting to think the now-infamous "October Surprise" would be an attack on Iran. He pointed out that I'm not the only one:
"We categorically deny any nuclear-related testing at Parchin." Hossein Mousavian, Iranian delegate to IAEANow, granted, I tend to take a lot of what I read in ZMagazine with a grain of salt but I, nevertheless, thought it was interesting that someone else had the same thought I did. Surely the neocons aren't this stupid? Posted by sarah at September 20, 2004 4:08 PM | TrackBack"A prominent international expert said on Wednesday that new satellite images showed the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran may be a site for research, testing and production of nuclear weapons." (Reuters)
Even though a NIE (National Intelligence Estimate), which was released yesterday, expounded the many doomsday scenarios for violence-ridden Iraq, the Bush Administration is still busy establishing the groundwork for America’s next Middle East crusade. The allegations of an Iranian "nuclear bomb" facility are tantamount to an act of war; or so it is surmised among Bush loyalists.
As yet, we have no corroborating evidence that the photos show what they are "alleged" to show, but Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s chief delegate to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) board told Reuters that, "This is a lie…but we are ready to cooperate with the IAEA if they want to go"(inspect the site) This familiar tactic was employed by Colin Powell prior to the Iraq war when he produced myriad hazy photographs of chemical weapons plants to the UN, all of which proved to be entirely bogus.
It also reminds us of Rumsfeld’s comments before the invasion that, "We know where they are. (the WMD) They are up in the region around Tikrit." Again, the claims proved to be baseless, but were instrumental in marshalling public support for the war. Rumsfeld knows that these charges won’t elicit support for an invasion, nor are they intended to. The DOD (Dept of Defense) is simply trying to run an "end sweep" around the IAEA, the UN Security Council and the US intelligence agencies (CIA, FBI) who are trying to slow the rush to war. (The FBI has already established that top level actors in the DOD are passing on "classified information" to Israel with the conspicuous goal of initiating hostilities against Iran). Mike Whitney on ZNet.