Niger not the only nuclear lie from Bush

[priller]

In late 2002 Tony Blair was in Washington to get the inside info from Bush on Saddam's threat. At a press conference later Bush offered two pieces of evidence on why he though Saddam is a threat to us NOW: (1) A report by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) that said in 1998 Saddam could build a nuclear weapon within 6 months." (2) A satellite photo from the same agency supposedly showing a factory being rebuilt for nuclear weapons.

Bush chuckled, "Heh heh, what more evidence do we need?"

(1) Within hours the IAEA issued a statement saying, "There's never been a report like that issued from this agency". A few hours later the White House issued a correction, saying Bush "misspoke". Then they further elaborated, "In '91, there was a report saying that after the war they found out that Iraq was about 6 months away". Again, the IAEA responded by saying no, they have NEVER issued a report that said that, not in '91, not in '98, not ever.

So what was Bush talking about? Most reporters think that he was referring to a news report from 1991 in the London Times, where a UN expert was quoted as saying Iraq was 6 months away from "large-scale production of enriched uranium" before the Gulf War broke out. That's the fuel used for nuclear bombs (and also nuclear power plants), not the bomb itself. But that was '91. What about now? The latest word from the IAEA is "There are no indications that there remains in Iraq any physical capability for the production of weapon-usable nuclear material of any practical significance".

(2) For the satellite photo, again the IAEA made a statement that they had never identified the buildings in the photo. Furthermore, the spokesman said, "There is no evidence in our view that can be substantiated on Iraq's nuclear-weapons program. If anybody tells you they know the nuclear situation in Iraq right now, in the absence of four years of inspections, I would say that they're misleading you because there isn't solid evidence out there... when we left in December '98 we had concluded that we had neutralized their nuclear-weapons program. We had confiscated their fissile material. We had destroyed all their key buildings and equipment."

The White House replied that they "interpreted the photos differently".

The Bushies never attempted to use these bits of evidence again, but it's just another example of how "fast and loose" they played with the nuclear intel.

[roberthall10]

1. Believe the IAEA

Its funny how Bush disparaged the IAEA on Iraq, but now is letting them carry the ball in Iran, where he really needs them. Characteristic of the kind of damage to international institutions the Bush administration is doing.