Monday, June 16, 2008

Won't get fooled again?

Quick! Everybody panic!!1!
Blueprint for nuclear warhead found on smugglers' computers

Ex-weapons inspector fears rogue states bought plan
Keep panicking!
Does Iran have blueprints for a miniature nuclear warhead?

"Why did these smugglers associated with the notorious Pakistani nuclear engineer A. Q. Khan have these designs, unless they had sold or intended to sell them for Khan?" [David] Albright [a former inspector for the International Atomic Energy Agency asked.
Now panic some MMoooooorrre!
Pakistani May Have Delivered Advanced Nuclear Designs

Evidence Suggests Iran, North Korea Might Possess Plans
Woooo, scary monsters!

Until you look at the facts:
1) They've known about the plans for 4 years. Completely known about them for over 2 years. (ibid)

2) David Albright, the ONLY person to be quoted on record in ALL of these articles hasn't been in the IAEA since 1997.

3) 1/2brite founded a NON-governmental think tank called Institute for Science and International Security, AKA ISIS, in 1993. (Sheesh, Isis!? Maybe his lack of imagination is why he never qualified for any doctorate!) (ibid)

His own bio on ISIS, (I'm still giggling), says "He directs the project work of ISIS, heads its fundraising efforts, and chairs its board of directors. "

Well by golly, since he hasn't actually had access to IAEA materials since '97, and works as a fund raiser for the organization he started in '93, I'm sure we can take his word for it. Gosh knows he doesn't have any financial stake in this!

4) The only other US sources trumpeting this 'panic, PANIC NOW!' viewpoint are unnamed government sources. e.g.
"That's a question to be studied," a senior U.S. official said. But he said he had little information beyond the public accounts of the report, issued by the Institute for Science and International Security.
...
Top U.S. intelligence officials have emphasized that design work could be quickly resumed and the real obstacle to nuclear weapons capacity was a sufficient supply of nuclear fuel.
...
"We don't know for certain if Khan gave the designs to Iran or North Korea," said a U.S. counterproliferation official who worked extensively on the Libya case. "But why would you give them to the Libyans and not the North Koreans?"
And my favorite:
U.S. diplomats said Iran's rejection of the deal would force Washington to develop a new round of sanctions against Tehran, both unilaterally and through the United Nations.
Ummm, so none of these sources actually knows whether Iran has these materials. Is it just me or is anyone else wondering why the MSM is quoting allegations by anonymous sources in the Bush government as fact?

Haven't these reporters been lied to enough by Bush et al about WMDs, aluminum tubes, mushroom clouds, etc, etc, etc ... that they won't show the slightest bit of skepticism about this latest bull$hit?

I mean, c'mon!? Where's the 'alleged', where's the 'but other sources say', where's the OUTING THE ACTUAL NAMES of people who've lied to you before!?

Don't they see any similarities between this PR push and the one they mounted against Iraq!?

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