US feverishly works to frame Iran

U.N. inspectors have ["found"] traces of highly enriched uranium on equipment from an Iranian research center linked to the military, diplomats said Friday - a revelation [they say is] likely to strengthen U.S. arguments that Tehran wants to develop nuclear arms.

The diplomats, who demanded anonymity in exchange for divulging the confidential information, cautioned that confirmation still had to come through other laboratory tests.

What a load of crap. If you can't divulge your sources, we can assume that either you're lying or they're lying. Either put up or shut-up. These are diplomats, not undercover agents. It's not their identities they're trying to protect, but the veracity of their claims against question.

Initially, they said the density of enrichment appeared to be close to or above the level used to make nuclear warheads. But later a diplomat accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was below that, although higher than the low-enriched material used to generate power and heading toward weapons-grade level.

There are enough qualifications in that statement to drive a mountain through. What kind of differential are we talking about?

Uranium enriched to between 3.5 percent and 5 percent is used to make fuel for reactors to generate electricity. It becomes suitable for use in nuclear weapons when enriched to more than 90 percent.

With a vague assertion that the percent enrichment is "somewhere in between," they have NOTHING on Iran but crafty scheming and wishful thinking.

Still, they said, further analysis could show that the find matches others established to have come from abroad. The IAEA determined earlier traces of highly enriched uranium were imported on equipment from Pakistan that Iran bought on the black market during nearly two decades of clandestine activity.

So, it has nothing to do with so-called domestic Iranian weapons-grade enrichment activities - because they simply don't exist.

The only thing this "proves," if anything, is that Iran imported equipment for enriching uraniam for nuclear energy production - activity completely within its rights under the NPT.

How it got contaminated with uranium enriched to unspecified levels above that needed for energy remains the realm of pure speculation.

Nevermind, they say - these are minor details. We must focus on the bigger picture that they want to establish - Iran is guilty until proven innocent.

Even then, nevertheless, the find would be significant.

Because Iran has previously denied conducting enrichment-related activities at the site, the mere fact the traces came from there bolsters arguments that it has hidden parts of a program that can create the fissile material used in nuclear warheads.

It does no such thing, for the reasons I've already outlined.

Additionally, the site's connection to the military weakens Iranian arguments that its nuclear program is purely civilian.

Military connection? Says who?

"That has long been suspected as the site of undeclared enrichment research and ... the Iranians have denied that any enrichment research had taken place at that location," said Iran expert Gary Samore of the MacArthur Foundation in Chicago. "It certainly does reinforce the agency's suspicion that Iran has not fully declared its past enrichment research."

And who the hell is Gary Samore?

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ah, that explains everything.

We can trust him - about as far as we can throw him.