The Thomas Chronicles

*** Update below ***

To my previous post, commenter Hass had the following things to say:

“Nonsense. The IAEA report says no such thing about “building a warhead”. And, those Iranian centrifuges make low-enriched uranium which CANNOT be used to make bombs - doesn’t matter if there’s 3000 or 30 million of them - and they’re under constant IAEA surveillance.

The Iranians have offered to place additional restrictions on their enrichment program - beyond their legal obligations - to ensure that the centrifuges can’t even theoretically be secretly used to make bomb-grade enriched uranium. For example, they’ve offered to operate the facility as a joint venture with foreign governments.

Even Brazil and Argentina, which have recently developed the same technology, have not made such an offer.”

To this I have to confess, the IAEA made no mention about “building a warhead”. However, this doesn’t mean they’re not buiding one either. So, for the sake of accuracy, I was wrong and Hass was correct in this particular. But that is where it ends.

In any honest assessment of the Iranian situation, you would have to come to grips with the public statements of its President Ahmadinejad that he will wipe Israel off the face of the map. He has made his intentions quite clear to the world and to his own people.

Secondly, the IAEA report issues a strange contradiction. On the one hand, the report said that Iran has made important strides in making their nuclear programs more transparent; on the other, they freely confessed that they don’t have enough facts to make a full assessment of Iran’s nuclear activities. How could they when Iran constantly runs interference with the inspectors.

Even the NY Times, who is no friend of the Bush Administration, wrote on Nov. 15 that “[t]he report made clear that even while providing some answers, Iran has continued to shield many aspects of its nuclear program. Iran’s “cooperation has been reactive rather than proactive,” the report said, adding that because of restrictions Iran has placed on inspectors the agency’s understanding of the full scope of Iran’s nuclear program is “diminishing.”“

What is dangerous about Mr. Hass’s comments is that some of statements are technically correct. The centrifuges aren’t capable of producing a nuclear weapon… at their current level of operation, that is. The IAEA noted that the centrifuges “were operating well below their capacity”. I am no nuclear weapons expert, but the implication here is that they might have the capacity once the centrifuges run at full capacity. It’s as simple as flicking a switch.

Others of Mr. Hass statements are outright lies. He wrote that Iran’s centrifuges are “under constant IAEA surveillance.” This hasn’t been true for over two years since they kicked out the inspectors the first time.

I don’t usually throw on the high-beams on a commenter. I generally try to encourage comments and discussions on my blog. But this is too important a point to treat glibly.

This kind of mentality is what reasonable men of goodwill are up against in this world.

It’s an infantile mentality that insists that reality is anything he wants it to be. Fortunately, this is not the case.

But what are we to make of people who insist that the opposite of reality is true. Many people simply shake their heads and ask themselves the very rational question, “Do they really mean what they are saying or are they mentally sick?”

Unfortunately, we will probably never know the answer to question this side of the grave, so any speculation this way or the other is bootless and counterproductive. The only fact we have is that they are saying black is white and white is black.

Everyone knows the intentions of Iran. This doesn’t require speculation or mind-reading. They’ve stated repeatedly that they want to destroy Israel and the United States, and their president, Ahmadinejad, has publicly said that he wants to bring on the apocalypse in order to bring forth the 12th and final Madhi. This isn’t locked away in some secret basement somewhere; they’ve said this out in the open for all the world to see.

We find this infantile behavior among our political leaders in alarming numbers as well, particularly among the liberals but also widespread among the conservatives.

The liberals insist they are supporting our troops even as they undermine their every effort in the war. The conservatives insist that gays should be given “dignity and respect” even as they call for them to be made illegal.

Liberals insisting that they are for the working man even as they dispossess them. Conservatives insisting they are nationalists even as they sell us out to the global world.

(In many ways, the conservatives’ mendacity is even more heinous than the liberals. They portray themselves as staunch nationalists and traditionalists even as they betray their stated beliefs. At least the liberals-leaning-leftists are consistent. You can count of them to hate (too strong a word) undermine their country.)

The list is endless.

When men assert that they are doing the opposite of what they are doing, what can you possibly say?

Related Stories:

Report Raises New Doubts on Iran Nuclear Program
Israel asks IAEA chief to step down
Defiant Iran hails IAEA report
Israel: IAEA is “pro-Iranian”

Mini-Update:

The Sanity Squad has a podcast up that is relevant to this post here.

Another Update:

Mr. Hass responded to this post with this:

Actually, Iran has never “kicked IAEA inspectors out” of anywhere. The IAEA itself says so.

In fact, quite the opposite, it is the Americans and Israelis who are under the influence of apocalypse spewing hatemongers, and it is the Iranians who have been threatened with nuclear attacks.

These are all facts. But if you want to rely on “everyone knows” nonsense, go right ahead. And you’ll be fooled again.

And so, here is my rebuttal.

In an article in 2006, the Washington Times wrote:

Iran barred intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities in February after it was referred to the U.N. Security Council for not fully cooperating with U.N. monitors.”

Another article from the International Herald Tribune reports in Jan. 2007:

Iran has barred 38 inspectors on a U.N. list from entering the country, the foreign minister said Monday in what appeared to be retaliation for the U.N. sanctions imposed last month.

Oh, excuse me, Mr. Hass. Iran didn’t put the inspectors from the scruff of their necks and threw them out. No, they were just barred from the country. The effect is exactly the same, so why quibble?

Glenn Beck of CNN said this of Ahmadinejad:

BECK: OK, so Joel, there are two theories that I have, because I have seen the texts of the speeches that he`s given where he is telling his people prepare to rule the world and I`m going to usher in the messiah, and you know anything about Islam and these beliefs, the messiah only comes after the apocalypse.

The reason why this isn`t being reported in the mainstream media is two reasons, and tell me which one it is. Either people think that this guy`s just rhetoric or, you know, it makes you sound nuts.

Ahmadinejad said this:

When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: “What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow.”

He also said this:

The speech ended with the messianic appeal to God to “hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace“.

The Promised One which in Iran’s dominant Shia Islam Twelver” sect believes:

“… this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.

He is said to have gone into “occlusion” in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.”(the emphasis are mine)

Ahem, “apocalypse spewing hatemongers”? American and Israel telling Iran to stop enriching uranium is not the same as telling people that Israel will be “wiped off the map” nor is it the same as calling the United States the “Great Satan” for all of 30 plus years.

Once again, Mr. Hass, thank you for underlining the point of my post.

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