Fox News and the Associated Press have released an update on Iran's frenzied quest for nukes, and its continual stonewalling. An excerpt:

"The International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that Iran is still failing to cooperate in their probe of Tehran's alleged nuclear arms program. (bold in original)

"Iran has effectively stonewalled U.N. nuclear inspectors attempting to resolve longstanding concerns about 'possible military dimensions' to Tehran's nuclear program, a new report by the nuclear watchdog's top inspector says.

"IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei reiterated his agency's previous complaints about Iran's cooperativeness in his latest report to the IAEA Board of Governors, obtained Monday by FOX News.

"In unusually strong language, ElBaradei pointed to 'the doubts which naturally arise, in light of all the outstanding issues, about the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nculear program.'

"ElBaradei cited Iran's refusal since April to provide more information about a broad range of military activities which could either be geared toward the production of a nuclear warhead or which may simply reflect, as Tehran claims, the work of a normal conventional weapons program.

"The report also said that — through uranium enrichment — Tehran now has amassed a third of the amount of enriched uranium it could reprocess into the material serving as the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, should it choose to do so."

Here is the link: FOXNews.com - IAEA: Iran Still Failing to Cooperate in Nuke Investigation - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

It is NONE OF OUR BUSINESS if Iraq has nuclear weapons.

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"Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states...Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."



~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is very much our business. And for a variety of reasons.

(1) If the mullahs in Tehran are the apocalyptic zealots I believe them to be, they would delight in a nuclear exchange with Israel, thereby killing millions. This would not be viewed as an acceptable "price" by the Iranian leadership, but as a truly splendid development, thereby ushering in the Eschaton.

(2) If I am mistaken in that analysis--and I deeply suspect that I am not--Mahmoud Ahamdinejad and his puppetmasters could attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil is shipped, thereby strangling the economies of the West; and an increasingly impotent US (and a totally neutered Europe) would be very disinclined to do anything about it, beyond the usual chatter about the possible issuance of further "sanctions."

(3) The fact that Israel, in the same neighborhood, already has nukes is no argument. Israel has never threatened to wipe Iran off the map, or encouraged others to try to imagine a world without Iran; the opposite, however, has occurred rather frequently. To claim that Israel's possession of nuclear weapons justifies Iran's pursuit of the same is tantamount to one's asserting that a convicted murderer should have the same right to own a handgun as any other American citizen.

Dude, the thread is about IRAN, not IRAQ. Maybe you should follow your own advice and read a book or two.

I wonder if Canada have nukes??

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A picture is worth a thousand words.

Wish Barack H. Obama good luck on 1/20/2009 (202) 456-1414
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Who considers the source (FOX news) as completely neutral?

Iran simply has the right not to allow those U.N. nuclear inspectors.

Yeah, the Americans are definitely looking for a reason that justifies a new invasion. (of course oil has "nothing" to do with it ..)
I hope they realize Iran is military much more stronger than Iraq and besides Russia is an ally of them.

That's obvious.

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Annually, between 5 tot 12 billion Euros flow from Dutch-speaking Flanders to French-speaking Wallonia - proportionally more than former West Germany invests in the former "German Democratic Republic". Wallonia receives a quarter of its income from this ‘national solidarity’. This is Belgium ..

Even if you distrust FNC--and I find its slight, rightward editorial slant less obvious than CNN's leftward slant; and much less obvious than MSNBC's in-your-face leftism--the fact remains that this was in part an AP article. At the bottom of the article are the words: "FOX News' James Rosen and The Associated Press contributed to this report."

If Iran wishes to disinvite the IAEA inspectors, thereby confirming its malevolent intentions, then it should do precisely that. But its continual gamesmanship, in (theoretically) cooperating with the inspectors, while doing everything possible to throw up roadblocks in their path, is duplicitous and, therefore, indefensible.

I deeply wish that you were correct. Well, not about an "invasion," exactly--that implies boots on the ground--but I would certainly support an American air strike upon Iran's known and suspected nuclear facilities.

Sadly, however, the Bush Administration has made it abundantly clear, throughout President Bush's second term, that no such actions are likely to be forthcoming. The State Department--replete with Euro-pacifist sympathizers and assorted other accommodationists--has obviously won the day in the president's second term. The neoconservatives (among whom, I count myself) are now on the outside, looking in.

I have absolutely no idea what to do about Iran. I'm mystified as to what they actually want.

The only thing I do know is that our foreign policy is so retarded, we will likely end up daring Iran into escalation with sabre-rattling and our usual Obey-Or-Die manner. We interfere in a region and culture we don't understnad, and then wonder why things turn out badly.

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"Oh, bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round...

If you people are stupid enough to give up your nation's sovereignty to that clusterf*ck called the United Nations - like the idiots who insist Iran must do by submitting to the IAEA, then you deserve to all collapse while a bunch of incompetent bureaucrats on the take run your lives.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

You're a Bircher?

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You meet the same folks on the way up as you do on the way down.

No but I may have to look into that organization. The John Birch Society

I reject the notion promoted by at least some Birchers, however, that the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. I also reject the racist leanings of some of its members (I believe in the concept of the melting pot and the colorblind society). The John Birch Society is much more in line with the Constitution Party than the Libertarian Party.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."