Past Arguments Don't Square With Current Iran Policy -WP

[Rose Siding]

Lacking direct evidence, Bush administration officials argue that Iran's nuclear program must be a cover for bomb-making. Vice President Cheney recently said, "They're already sitting on an awful lot of oil and gas. Nobody can figure why they need nuclear as well to generate energy."

Yet Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and outgoing Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz held key national security posts when the Ford administration made the opposite argument 30 years ago.

Ford's team endorsed Iranian plans to build a massive nuclear energy industry, but also worked hard to complete a multibillion-dollar deal that would have given Tehran control of large quantities of plutonium and enriched uranium -- the two pathways to a nuclear bomb. Either can be shaped into the core of a nuclear warhead, and obtaining one or the other is generally considered the most significant obstacle to would-be weapons builders.

Iran, a U.S. ally then, had deep pockets and close ties to Washington. U.S. companies, including Westinghouse and General Electric, scrambled to do business there.

..........MORE........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3983-2005Mar26.html

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. They're already sitting on an awful lot of oil and gas

We're already sitting on enough frigging military hardware to take over the world 10x over... why the hell do we need to increase our so called "defense budget" while starving out veterans, retirees and children?

Hypocritical oafs.

[daleo]

2. They thought they had a reliable tyrant back then (the Shah). n/t

[cliss]

3. My my, how things can change.

Washington is so transparent. It's so elementary to see through their rhetoric.

In fact, they seem to be doing their Lying Rhetoric less these days. Maybe they're getting tired of it? I bet Scott McClellan is one tired dude. All the hoops he has to jump through each and every day. I bet he knows how a prostitute feels. (a case of split loyalty).

I really do see the Charade wearing thin. They're running out of alibis for Iran. They want to see Iran unarmed, just like they are upset about Hugo Chavez purchasing arms from Russia and other places.