Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Good, if the media were honest and up-front it should be on every front page. No ordinary public wants war and
certainly Iran doesn't. Of course, bombing of Iran would unite the population behind the mullahs. It's called
nationalism, citizens of other countries have that inclination, too, though the Bush admin. seemed to ignore that.

From your first link ..

The report has proven controversial in the United States and has been dismissed by other nations. Advisers
to President Barack Obama have also been said to question the assessment, according to Voice of America.

Your piece that suggests ..

Unfortunately, a lot of Burgess's colleagues, under political pressure, appear ready to cave to the hawks and Neocons on this issue in the next National Intelligence Estimate. Laura Rozen says they will shift to saying Iran may be doing experiments with weapons implications, without saying there is a weapons program, but the military-media complex in the US and Israel will deliberately miss the distinction.

obviously should be of real concern.

On what basis is the 2007 NIE report, which said no evidence of Iran going ahead with a nuclear weapons program, dismissed. Can't find any good reasons, so .. is there something in it that they are just not white Christians, so we don't believe the Iranians? Is the dismissal of the NIE report for political/military reasons only? Are there considerations of the domestic political value of having any enemy to vilify? .. munchie ..
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NIE Report May Block Military Force Against Iran

As justification for continuing his Iran policy, the president cited the NIE's judgment that Iran chose to shut down its covert nuclear program in 2003 because of international pressure. The president said he wants that pressure to continue.

But in 2003, there were no economic sanctions against Iran. The U.S. refused to engage with Iran and dismissed the European decision to negotiate as fruitless.

In fact, the only pressure the U.S. had brought against Iran was its invasion of Iraq, said Farideh Farhi, an expert on Iran at the University of Hawaii.

"If we take the NIE seriously — take 2003 as the period that caused the change — then it was the fear of military action that actually promoted or caused Iran to do something about its nuclear program."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16913077
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Also, from your first link, a point which must be remembered ..

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi today noted that all Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty signatories are entitled to civilian nuclear energy programs, and he called for stepped-up negotiations aimed at resolving the nuclear dispute, the Xinhua News Agency reported (Xinhua News Agency, Jan. 15).
http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100115_1438.php

Re the assassination of Masoud Ali-Mohammadi ..
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The Iran Royal Association, an obscure monarchist group that seeks to reestablish the Pahlavi reign in Iran, announced in a statement that its “Tondar Commandos” were behind the assassination of Masoud Ali-Mohammadi.

Ali-Mohammadi, described by colleagues as a non-political person, was killed by a remote-controlled bomb planted on a motorcycle parked outside his home in the north Tehran neighborhood of Qetariyeh.

Announcing the killing, the website of the group said that they had previously threatened “the sell-out” with death.

The Iran Royal Association, headed by Foroud Fouladvand, is responsible for a deadly bombing in the southern city of Shiraz back in April 2008, in which 13 people were killed and hundreds were wounded.
http://www.islamidavet.com/english/tag/the-iran-royal-association/
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On Wednesday, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, said that U.S. spy agencies were involved in the assassination of Masoud Ali-Mohammadi. Larijani stated that Iran “ had received information a few days before the incident that intelligence services of the Zionist regime intend to carry out terrorist acts in Tehran in cooperation with the CIA
http://www.examiner.com/x-33249-Iowa-City-Foreign-Policy-Examiner~y2010m1d13-Lessons-from-the-assassination-of-the-Iranian-nuclear-scientist
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Without suggesting any CIA involvement, as we don't know one way or other, are we supposed
to ignore Ali Larijani's statement, just because he is a member of the Iranian parliament?

Who is Foroud Fouladvand? LOl, don't ask me, anyway, in reply
one Iranian view and an original take on conspiracy theorists.