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

To: Nicholas Thompson who wrote (257514)	2/24/2008 10:55:36 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 281500

Peanuts Compared To What These Thugs Have In Mind, Praise Allah?> Iran confirms new nuclear centrifuges By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 24, 5:18 PM ET TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Sunday that it has started using new centrifuges that can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate of the machines that now form the backbone of the Islamic nation's nuclear program. ADVERTISEMENT The announcement was the first official confirmation by Tehran after diplomats with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog reported earlier this month that Iran was using 10 of the new IR-2 centrifuges. "We are (now) running a new generation of centrifuges," the official IRNA news agency quoted Javad Vaidi, deputy of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, as saying. No futher details were provided. Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official on Sunday blamed the U.S. for Tehran's refusal to respond to an International Atomic Energy Agency probe into whether Iran tried to make nuclear weapons in the past. Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA, claimed information provided by Washington and used by the U.N. agency was fake and it came to Tehran too late for a proper review. The U.S. dismissed the complaint, saying Iran could have answered concerns about its nuclear program years ago. Tehran insists its nuclear program is intended only to produce energy, but the U.S. and some of its allies suspect it could lead to the development of weapons. Iran is already under two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany have agreed on a draft resolution for a third set of sanctions. The IAEA highlighted the "new-generation centrifuges" in its latest report on Iran released Friday, but did not provide details on their operation. Earlier this month, diplomats accredited to the IAEA told The Associated Press that 10 IR-2 centrifuges had started processing small quantities of uranium hexafluoride gas in a process that can produce fuel for a nuclear reactor or fissile material for a weapon. Ten centrifuges are too few to produce enriched uranium in the quantities needed for an industrial-scale energy or weapons program and far below the 3,000 older centrifuges in Iran's underground enrichment plant in the central town of Natanz. Friday's IAEA report said many past questions about Iran's nuclear program had been resolved but highlighted Tehran's continued refusal to halt uranium enrichment, paving the way for another set of sanctions. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday the report vindicated Iran and called on the U.S. and its allies to apologize for accusing Tehran of seeking nuclear weapons. He also warned that Tehran would take unspecified "decisive reciprocal measures" against any country that imposed additional sanctions against Iran. Most of the material shown to Iran by the IAEA in its investigation of the nation's alleged attempts to make nuclear arms came from Washington, though some was provided by U.S. allies, diplomats told The Associated Press. The agency shared it with Tehran only after the nations gave their permission. But Soltanieh dismissed much of the material as false. In any case, he said, it came too late — three years after U.S. intelligence claimed it had material on a laptop computer smuggled out of Iran indicating that Tehran had been working on details of nuclear weapons. The data supposedly included missile trajectories and ideal altitudes for exploding warheads. "They should have given it to us three years ago," Soltanieh said, suggesting Tehran would then have had a more substantive response. Instead, he said, Iran did not get an offer for a review until mid-February. By that time, he said, the deadline for the conclusion of the IAEA investigation into Iran's nuclear past had passed and experts were already working on the agency's report. "All of a sudden, the Americans notice this thing is going to be closed," he said, referring to the investigation. Suddenly, he added, "they have additional and new documents — these dirty games should be stopped immediately." The United States denied being at fault. "Iran did not need to wait for information to answer" the accusations coming from many sides that it was trying to make nuclear arms, said Gregory L. Schulte, the top U.S. delegate to the IAEA. Soltanieh also acknowledged that his country's uranium enrichment program was experiencing "ups and downs." It appeared to be the first Iran admitted its enrichment activities were running into some difficulties. ___

To: Nicholas Thompson who wrote (257514)	2/25/2008 2:42:00 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

It makes my blood boil when Nadine or someone of her ilk dismisses the dead since 911. Since they did not appear on the evening news (hence the restrictions against showing caskets or Bush bothering to attend a single funeral), they are invisible to the likes of Nadine. There has been no major attack since 911 (whatever happened to the Anthrax letters?) on American mainland soil because we have conveniently sent Americans over there. There are something like 250,000 military and contractors there. Even Bush said it was a matter of fighting them over there or over here so, he chooses to send everyone over there out of the glare of the evening news. I believe that 20-25% (maybe more) of US military will return home with PTSD. It may show up years later and it can destroy entire families along with the sufferer. I'm sure Nadine pooh-poohs that devastation as well. She/he is a nasty piece of work. I have always known that to be the case but this goes too far.