NEO-CONS PUSH FOR WAR AGAINST IRAN

For a concrete example on how certain neo-con elements are pushing for an attack against Iran, consider this article appearing in Bloomberg.com yesterday by Vernon Silver.

"Iran has two facilities that may become capable of making ingredients for atomic bombs, says Leonard Spector, deputy director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies of the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.

"One is a small research plant under construction in Arak, about 150 miles southwest of Tehran, that would produce plutonium, Spector says. The other is a centrifuge facility in Natanz, 150 miles (240 kilometers) south of Tehran, where Iran says it's enriching uranium.

"``The activity is so suspicious and going on for so long in secrecy that it has the classic signs of heading for nuclear weapons,'' says Spector, 62, who runs the Washington office of the James Martin Center, the largest U.S. nongovernmental group devoted exclusively to research and training on nonproliferation."

Note that Silver is reduced to quoting sources that never do state that Iran is making atomic bombs, merely that there are facilities that "may become capable of making ingredients for atomic bombs." Also note the innuendo by quoting some guy who says the activity is "suspicious" because it is "going on for so long in secrecy" "that it has the classic signs of heading for nuclear weapons." And what are the "classic signs" of "heading for nuclear weapons?" Silver's source merely expresses his own suspicions, but so what? Where is tangible concrete evidence, some thing or action that proves Iran wants nuclear weapons?

And then there is the troubling headline for Silver's article: "Iran's Nuclear Threat Aided by Fake Firms, Rome Bank, U.S. Says." Silver quotes his authorities, but nowhere can I find where anyone in Silver's article representing the United States government says that fake firms or banks are aiding Iran to develop a nuclear threat.

Silver's whole article is riddled with suspicions and innuendo cast at Iran, as if to paint Iran as the world's pariah, populated with dangerous evildoers who would want nothing better than to drop nuclear bombs on peace-loving countries or supply atomic weapons to terrorists. Silver's article is one more attempt to justify reckless military action against Iran.