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@@ Dr. Prather: Iran has provided objective guarantees – above and beyond those required by its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA @@

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Arash

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Mar 18, 2006, 12:13:53 PM3/18/06

AntiWar
March 18, 2006

Preventing International Crimes

Dr. James Gordon Prather
Nuclear weapons physicist
Nuclear bomb tester at Lawrence Livermore
Technical director of nuclear bomb testings at Sandia
Chief scientist of the U.S. Army
U.S. Navy veteran

When Bush went to Congress in September 2002, seeking "specific statutory
authorization" to invade Iraq, he based his case on what we now know was "fixed"
intelligence – a hastily completed National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which
supposedly contained – but did not – positive proof that Saddam was reconstructing
his nuke and chem-bio programs with the intention of supplying them to Islamic
terrorists for use against us.

Of course, practically everyone in Congress already knew that Bush intended to invade
Iraq irrespective of what Saddam had done, was doing or intended to do.

In Bush's 2002 National Security Strategy Statement, he accused Iraq, Iran and North
Korea of being "rogue states" who:

* brutalize their own people and squander their national resources for the personal
gain of the rulers;

* display no regard for international law, threaten their neighbors and callously
violate international treaties to which they are party;

* are determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction, along with other advanced
military technology, to be used as threats or offensively to achieve the aggressive
designs of these regimes;

* sponsor terrorism around the globe; and

* reject basic human values and hate the United States and everything for which it
stands. [1]
Now, hardly any member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) agreed with Bush that Iraq
then constituted a threat to any of its neighbors, much less to the United States.

Hence, this explicit threat by Bush in his National Security Strategy of 2002 was
extremely troubling:

The United States has long maintained the option of pre-emptive actions to
counter a sufficient threat to our national security.

The greater the threat, the greater is the risk of inaction – and the more
compelling the case for taking anticipatory action to defend ourselves, even if
uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack.

To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States
will, if necessary, act pre-emptively.

On the eve of Bush's pre-emptive attack on Iraq, former Senate Majority Leader Robert
Byrd tried to get Congress to stop Bush from misusing the highly conditional
authority provided a few months earlier in the Resolution Authorizing the Use of U.S.
Armed Forces Against Iraq.

Senator Byrd had this, inter alia, to say:

This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine
applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time.

The doctrine of pre-emption – the idea that the United States or any other
nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be
threatening in the future – is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of
self-defense.

It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter.

And it is being tested at a time of worldwide terrorism, making many countries
around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our – or some other nation's – hit
list.

Undeterred, on March 20, 2003, Bush informed Congress that he was exercising the
highly conditional authority Congress had given him because he had "determined" that
no "further diplomatic or other peaceful means will adequately protect the national
security of the United States from the continuing threat posed by Iraq".

Has Bush been fazed by the horrific results of his – unauthorized by either Congress
or UN Security Council and hence a violation of U.S. and international law –
pre-emptive attack against an utterly defenseless Iraq?

Apparently not, because his just released the 2006 National Security Strategy [2],
which contains almost everything scary contained in the 2002 version, with additions
such as this:

We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran.

For almost 20 years, the Iranian regime hid many of its key nuclear efforts from
the international community.

The United States has joined with our EU partners and Russia to pressure Iran to
meet its international obligations and provide objective guarantees that its nuclear
program is only for peaceful purposes.

This diplomatic effort must succeed if confrontation is to be avoided.

But, according to the Russians, Iran has met all its international obligations.

And, according to the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), Iran has provided objective guarantees – above and beyond those required by
its Safeguards Agreement with the IAEA – that its nuclear program is for peaceful
purposes only. [3]

So, perhaps Senator Robert Byrd can reprise his speech that an unsanctioned
pre-emptive attack "appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN
Charter". [4]

Besides, Iran may not be "utterly defenseless".

Notes:
--------
[1] 2002 National Security Strategy (NSS)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.pdf [PDF-350KB]

[2] 2006 National Security Strategy (NSS)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss/2006

[3] IAEA reports
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaIran/index.shtml

[4] UN Charter
http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/

* Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for
national security-related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy
Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the
Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr. Prather also served as
legislative assistant for national security affairs to U.S. Senator Henry Bellmon,
R-Okla. --ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate
Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a
nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(http://www.llnl.gov) in California and Sandia National Laboratory
(http://www.sandia.gov) in New Mexico. http://www.antiwar.com/prather

West has kept billions of Iran's EURODIF investments for 30 years In 1975, Iran took
a very costly 10% financial participation in EURODIF uranium enrichment plant being
built in France. Iran paid $1 billion towards the purchase of a 10% share of
ownership in EURODIF and agreed to buy a quota from the new plant. But after the
Iranian revolution in 1979, neither was Iran given any enriched uranium nor did it
get back its investment from EURODIF. The U.S. was also paid to deliver new fuel and
upgrade its power in accordance with a contract signed before the revolution. U.S.
gave neither the fuel nor the billions of dollars it had received for it. Germany was
paid for in full, billions of dollars for the two nuclear facilities in Busher, but
after three decades, Germany has refused to export any equipments or refund the
money.
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0540800f7314f7b0

Nuclear program of Iran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran

IAEA and Iran
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/IaeaIran/index.shtml

Setting the Record Straight about Iran's Nuclear Program
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/a19f89b941a33707

U.S. endorsed Iranian plans to build massive nuclear energy industry
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/9b0a04b1107d7171

Washington: The Biggest NPT Violator
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e2233bcb812ca246

IAEA Chief Invalidates the NPT
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/3e2365eddc3bd0ff

More Bushlet Diplomacy
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/01c8abcbcafe1f06

IAEA pleads incompetence
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e905a0589dead19d

Time to scrap the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/756e263c959d9a1f

Iran would be better off ignoring the ineffectual maneuverings of the UN
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/50a02e8e5191ae35

C'est la Guerre
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/97b90ec731ea1dcc

Bush thwarted by China super nuke plant?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/79e452925dbc970a

Placating the Greenies
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/b101f3daf0619848

March madness
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1192d194d1a1d127

Sanction the IAEA Board, not Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e5c6919c2946fcb5

Currency War
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1052ca7782c2caba

Iran Has an 'Inalienable Right' to Nuclear Energy
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e1d0c2ffc2437794

What "noncompliance"? And defying whom?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/93043e2f0b11527b

WWIII or Bust: Implications of a U.S. attack on Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/d1cc075e951bd131

Why America will reap the worst in Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/a7c2da20a0bc69df

Smoking Laptop
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/911beee32e40791b

Iran 'gravest' threat? Hardly
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/54c6b1686dc22b90

President Bonkers Bolton
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/c91ec1c0b68f223c

'Disarming' Tehran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0863698fee1502c2

More neo-crazy media sycophant lies about Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/b16081acddbb8739

CIA-IAEA planting evidence!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/921c386f2446cb6e

Iranian nuke warheads
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/9d475a1b45c388d5

AIPAC statement on the U.S. administration's policy on Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0c5663f63d76e5c0

IAEA is doing Israel's bidding
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/953912efce75cbd9

Stuff and Nonsense
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/009482f7d2fcd131

Without Discrimination
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e2a592e4c4c6fcf8

Nuclear terrorism
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7254647c13390f5a

Happy New Year, EU/E3
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1ed90b8d2c1efd2d

Why shouldn't Iran seek nuclear weapons? - It's the U.S. which is violating the
"Article VI" of the NPT
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7d7b7340575738dd

Will U.S. honor its NPT commitments? Yeah right, when pigs fly!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/6ef0373af2f93171

To MOX or not to MOX
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/6cc28c13604c1c5c

Islamic back-scratching
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1f44f9a9ab778418

Those Crazy Mullahs
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7a8e501fa56ff9d3

Neo-Crazies Already Planning Beyond Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/470563f4bdf3cb36

Authoritative mis-information on Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/66bbad26c0f03d49

"Stolen Iranian Laptop", GLADIO's new campaign of misinformation
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f552c361c6d02dfc

Referring Nuke-Threats to Security Council
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/edd8971f345bb857

New York Times, Nuclear Weapons and Iran:
Stupidity, Laziness or Déjà vu All Over Again?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f2718b3d938eaed2

Iran's transparency
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/b385feaa1916d4d2

'Ahmadinejad's bombmaker' – where are you?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/78343ab2a9b9a3e8

Whoops! There she goes again
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/6f573bd90d5e1ee1

Lump of Coal for Condi
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/d098e8d0fd41745a

Fixing and forging intelligence
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/4c6663c968fd5f6c

Clumsy forgeries, Italian style
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/75bf490e791b0806

Stifling neo-crazy media sycophants
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/8790e709a9a122b4

After 2 years of intrusive go-anywhere see-anything ask-anybody inspections!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/a545047699722ca7

Nobel's peaceful kick to the groin
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/22f9662d106ce9c4

Bolton the Peacemaker
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/de17232f52db3933

Saving Face
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7da8706c13c8a059

West does not seek the elimination of nukes, but rather the establishment of nuclear
monopoly
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/502efbdfaa7622f7

Unratified additional protocol
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1b2b77819b38d9e3

The high price of hounding Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7c854d944d6e061d

Such a Blot
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/43ee2e2149e17310

Weapons of Mass Murder
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0f3f87b645a72fde

Neocrazies Foiled
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/86df9c0e9c38d475

Iran knocks Europe out
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/497a81cb3c315c65

UN opens a Pandora's Box of "Iran exceptionalism"
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/24bfe5a318d9a222

There is Nothing to refer to UN Security Council
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/76824d9387903d4a

WMD Postmortem
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0d02537756cafca8

No wonder the West is so mad at Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/83e63797f1a1af3b

Bolton in a China Shop
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/9927bb4f65924e34

JEW media sycophants & 36% HEU - IRAN told the truth, yet JEW keeps lying
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f90a6eef507f10a0

Past Arguments Don't Square With Current Iran Policy
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f53d3a05bc5403c1

The fuel behind Iran's nuclear drive
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/2fcf81313deb4ae0

The U.S. and Iran: Democracy, Terrorism, and Nuclear Weapons
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0d0dcf76abbaafb1

NO Nuclear double standards
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/8e41f4a8a1a3e04c

Backlash Builds Against Cheney's 'Guns of August'
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/8286b2b389247d0a

An offer Iran MUST refuse
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/743b96400831f8a1

Zero Tolerance
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1641ae424fde5b89

Sino-Russian Guarantees?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/bd8f5389ab0e8956

More neo-crazy media sycophant LIES about Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/d3fe84a9b64d20bc

What The Neo-Crazies Knew
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/6b45fabf57726a03

EU vs. Iran - Who's Right?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/cbce70a3093360fb

Iran should refer U.S. to Security Council for violating UNSCR-984
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0d54ef8e41b971bf

Castration of NPT - U.S. instantly tore up NPT for India, so why should Iran obey a
torn up agreement!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/2c234f4a148cd298

U.S. ripped NPT into pieces; Iran must withdraw from this annulled treaty
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/fbf55e939908b2c2

U.S. proliferation rhetoric and reality
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7d8c268ee51c07be

Ambassador Bolton's Agenda
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1ca916601b7a7bc8

Iran's INALIENABLE RIGHT to uranium enrichment
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/245f6081b4e3d019

A Palliative for Neo-Crazy Lies
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1b7968f98173938d

Inalienable right without discrimination
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/5012a673328fa044

U.S. doesn't want to disarm even though it promised to do so
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/c0b86cad11cb9413

UN Referral – Not
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/bddc928154c8c96a

What Iranian obligations? What breaches? America's lies, lies, lies...
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/9535c4a90df98471

Memo to slimy senators
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7065ffd57b51a959

U.S. promised in 2000, to get rid of it's nukes!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1e23bafecdac9e82

U.S. has violated Iran's NPT rights!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/02f1f48fafcac2b6

Iran's diplomatic masterpiece
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f532352654efee1d

Bush to sabotage NPT
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/6386adef83860d3e

West's repeated violations of "Article IV & I" against Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0123ceb12dd47321

Israel guns for Iran - Why?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/2c0274540f3957b7

U.S. wants definition of NPT 'noncompliance' changed!!!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/2abab5a7b8bce4c5

NTP for dummies
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f317bb918ca244da

CNN's Wolf Blitzer & David Albright: Jews global campaign against Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/44fcd2a53218eb52

The Real Threat From John Bolton
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/16fb61c3cca32703

81-mm smoking rockets
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/fb2c580ba00d79a6

U.S. plans to destroy NPT
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/760abaff1d8ac7c2

Nuts to Bush
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/de936f823b4dfb11

Iran's logic proven correct to the entire World
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/a5798de678dad2a9

Sandbagging the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group)
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/238000abe8fe032e

What Noncompliance?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/32f537772749ecc2

Sandbagging the EU
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/bb437d1ee00ad1e9

Bye-Bye, NPT
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/eb8e9f617d0e0867

Jew tells Bush to lie about Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/c96849f55f92353e

Targeting Non-existent Nukes?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e25e86754767e3ef

Blindly Backing Israel Against Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/ca49370dcc1f41a4

Condi Desperate to Stop EU-China-Iran Chain Reaction
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/26e6a24b43339654

The Impossible Dream in the State of the Union Address
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/74938ea7958d0764

Targeting Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/dbb46af7ff3f0b66

Bay of Pigs part 2, CIA-Israeli-MEK
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/b58f2a1d8b2290ff

Threatening Iran - despite the evidence
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/ce6e09919da68cbb

Virtual Nukes
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/c245e595ad17ae57

Iran's having the capability to enrich uranium is not even tantamount to having the
capability to produce the essentially pure uranium-235 required to make a nuke
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/303c3ca53b67c0a7

Dangerous Delusions About Iran
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/42c57f2ae0cdb3b0

Thwarting the Neo-Crazies
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/66c79d721fd588d4

Trashing the IAEA Again
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f8c610f6cc9e1fda

U.S. keeps lying about Iran again & again
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e9f480b192bd425e

Iran's Stealthy Nukes
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e47cc87d2b268368

Uranium-Enrichment Myths Busted
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f7ebc6f4bed9d13a

Iran Plays by the Rules - No Fair!
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/25be300601cc8984

Nuclear Bait and Switch
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0a0dc80ca3b8e98f

The myth of Iranian nukes
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/bf78503a661673e9

North Korea has what Iraq didn't
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/56f613221080276e

Iran has absolute right to enrich uranium
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0a8ac2dc599976ba

Iran is in full compliance with NPT & IAEA
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/737b74e86ba897cb