Iran: No Nukes

MANIFESTO

The latest National Intelligence Estimate is out, and is it ever a whopper. The bottom line: In the fall of 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program and hadn't restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007. And what were the Bushies doing during all that time—when they knew that this was the case? Just repeatedly calling for war because of big bad Iran's weapons of mass destruction. Iran was quite clear in what it wanted: In exchange for stopping a nuclear arms program, it wanted to be let alone to develop a nuclear energy program. The Bushies, of course, would have none of it lest—to use the Secretary of State's deathless hysterical phrase—a smoking gun become a mushroom cloud.

I suppose we've all passed the point where we might expect just a smidgen of sanity from the Bushies, but this is still—as Matt Yglesias says—pretty outrageous.

Now, of course, the Bushies are turning themselves inside out trying to explain that Iran can too develop nukes, so the American public should continue to be afraid, be verrrry afraid.

I'll be interested to know how Senator Sanctimony will react to all this given his track record on the issue. On second thought, I think I can predict pretty much where he'll land.