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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NickSE who wrote (76670)	2/23/2003 8:41:35 AM
From: Condor	Respond to of 281500

I think the US is not the evil one and I think the risk of killing thousands of civilians might be avoided with a modified program of regime elimination vs. all out war. I think the US is entirely capable of achieving this. The casual use of phrases like a few thousand deaths here and a few thousand deaths there is telling. In any event, you are going to get your war, be happy, no need to get so shrill. You excite the pack by doing that.

To: NickSE who wrote (76670)	2/23/2003 1:11:17 PM
From: NickSE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Analysis / Iran's road to nuclear arms haaretzdaily.com Iran revealed months ago that it had purchased a special gas from China that could be used to enrich uranium for the production of nuclear weapons. The gas purchase is one of the key reasons for International Atomic Energy Agency chairman, Mohamed ElBaradei, to visit Tehran yesterday. The gas was purchased years ago but the Iranians managed to hide the fact until recently. They did not report the purchase or the purposes for the procurement, as is mandated by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which Iran is party. Following the Iranian announcement, the United States sought confirmation of the deal in Beijing, and China confirmed that it had sold a ton of the gas to Iran. The gas, UF6, is mixed with uranium in centrifuges, thereby enriching ore. Uranium concentration in the ore stands at a mere 0.7 percent, and the enrichment process that makes it useful for nuclear reactors raises the concentration to 5 percent. When uranium is enriched to 80-90 percent, it is then possible to use for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. ElBaradei's visit was originally set up for December but the Iranians delayed it twice. Tehran appears to be banking on the the crisis in Iraq to divert the attention from what is happening on its soil. Initially, the visit was meant as an effort to convince Iran to participate in Protocol 2+93 of the IAEA, which permits inspections not only of nuclear facilities to which the host country invites the inspectors but also to all other sites requested by the IAEA. The Protocol was formulated by the IAEA's annual meeting following the Gulf War in 1991, when it became clear that Iraq had managed to divert the inspectors. Since its inception, the Protocol was signed by all member states of the IAEA, except Iran. A short while before ElBaradei's visit, new aims were added to the IAEA chairman's agenda. Iranians who oppose the regime in Teheran held a press conference on Thursday with the backing of the U.S. administration during which they revealed that Iran has recently removed a great deal of equipment from facilities where nuclear energy is produced. They named an additional nuclear installation where centrifuges are operated for uranium enrichment, at Abali, near the city of Isfahan. Several months ago, reports appeared of two other nuclear facilities whose existence was not known - one in Arak, about 150 km. south of Tehran, for producing heavy water, essential for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. The installation was set up in 1996 and was presented as producing nuclear energy. The second facility is in Natnaz, 40 km. southeast of Kashan. Construction began in 2001 and it is also reportedly to produce nuclear energy. Experts note that Iran has no reason to enrich uranium using centrifuges unless it plans to manufacture nuclear weapons. Similarly, there is no cause for heavy water since the nuclear reactors in Bushar are based on light water. The debate among the experts is not whether Iran intends to produce nuclear weapons but whether it has already crossed the point of no return in the process toward their production