The NIE and the Iranian Bomb

See, Dear Gentle Reader(s), what happens when one cries "Wolf" too often without reason: People stop believing you. That could be very dangerous. One of these days, there could very well be a threat from a wolf.

Within a few hours of last week's CIA National Intelligence Estimate which stated that Iran had stopped working on an atomic bomb in 2003, President Bush was making statements that there was still a threat from Iran's continuing to process and "enrich" uranium.

Iran's program to enrich uranium is a very real threat in this atomic age. In order to make a bomb, the manufacturer must have enriched uranium. At this stage, Iran's enriched uranium is not bomb quality, but all that needs to be done to have bomb quality uranium is to continue to enrich it.

Except for a few voices, most notably Tom Friedman in The New York Times, not enough people are paying attention to this continuing threat from Iran. Part of the problem the President is having is of his own making. He has rattled so many sabers, and spoken of World War III in connection with Iran's nuclear threat, that, with this new NIE, he has lost credibility.

The President and his administration must stop being scaremongers. They must assess the threats to America with an objective eye, and they must inform the American public of the precise nature of the threat and what exact steps America must take in order to protect itself from the threat.

Friedman put it very well: "Some things are true even if George Bush believes them, but good luck getting anyone to buy that anymore."

Iran is still a very likely nuclear threat; just because they won't have a "bomb" in the next couple of years doesn't mean they won't have the ability to construct one a couple of years after that.

Trust but verify.

Tell the truth.

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