Netanyahu : Iran close to having nuclear bomb ......Wait did he say that in 1992?

[Ichingcarpenter]

Netanyahu in 1992: Iran close to having nuclear bomb

Posted on 09/16/2012 by Juan Cole

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is trapped in reflection theory. He was allegedly himself involved in illegally smuggling nuclear triggers out of the US, and he assumes that Iran desperately wants a nuclear weapon as well. But Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has given a fatwa against nukes, and there is no solid intelligence pointing to an Iranian weapons program. Iran can’t be close to having a weapon if it doesn’t have a weapons program.

He has no credibility left on such warnings.

Reprint edn.:

Scott Peterson at the Christian Science Monitor did a useful timeline for dire Israeli and US predictions of an imminent Iranian nuclear weapon, beginning 20 years ago.

1992: Israeli member of parliament Binyamin Netanyahu predicts that Iran was “3 to 5 years” from having a nuclear weapon.

1992: Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres predicts an Iranian nuclear warhead by 1999 to French TV.

1995: The New York Times quotes US and Israeli officials saying that Iran would have the bomb by 2000.

1998: Donald Rumsfeld tells Congress that Iran could have an intercontinental ballistic missile that could hit the US by 2003.

http://www.juancole.com/2012/09/netanyahu-in-1992-iran-close-to-having-nuclear-bomb.html

[WorseBeforeBetter]

1. Twenty years later, and many Americans still getting sucked in by it.

And some right on this board...

[malaise]

2. Hence my question

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021355775

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. Why doesn't Israel vote in a new government?

Netanyahu is a pain in the neck. The Iranian government is also annoying.

Hopefully if we get alternative energy sorted in this country we don't need to cry for Iran's oil.

[oberliner]

4. In "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" eventually a wolf does come

Unfortunately, no one believes the crier.

But the wolf, in the end, turns out to be for real.

From WashPost:

Israeli officials have a long history of claiming that Iran is close to having a nuclear weapon–indeed, in 1992, Israeli officials suggested Iran was just a “few years” from a nuclear weapon. So with that track record, the latest assertion by the Israeli prime minister might be easy to ignore.

But in this case, Netanyahu is on the right track. In fact, a case could be made that Iran already is ahead of his timeline. Note that he did not say Iran would have a nuclear bomb—just that the Islamic Republic would have the material for a nuclear bomb.

The latest report from the International Atomic Energy Agency suggests that Iran already has more than enough uranium enriched to 20 percent that could converted into weapons-grade (90 percent) uranium for at least one nuclear weapon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/netanyahus-claim-that-iran-is-six-months-from-having-nuclear-bomb-material/2012/09/16/7497078e-002f-11e2-b260-32f4a8db9b7e_blog.html

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. peter lied and he died

moral of the story.

[MadHound]

10. Do you know how long it takes for you to convert 20 percent into 80 or 90%?

A long fucking time, years, and possibly years more. Yes, technically you could use the twenty percent EU in a weapon, a weapon that would go "pop" rather than "boom". Which is why it needs to be enriched up to eighty, ninety percent. Iran is using the centrifuge method of enrichment, which takes a looooong time. The twenty percent EU that they have right now, it took them a decade to enrich. Much more likely, they've done what they're saying they are doing, enrich up to twenty percent in order to make radiopharmaceuticals, or possibly doping silicon or something similar.

This is more fear mongering and saber rattling designed to scare a public who doesn't know enriched uranium from enriched flour.

[jsr]

5. Great find

[all american girl]

6. Don't they say this every year that in 6 months Iran will be able to blow up Europe?

Sometime or another, the media needs to go view the tapes.

[nanabugg]

8. Israel and Bibi are losing credibility right along with Romney. nt