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Arash

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Nov 19, 2005, 7:35:49 AM11/19/05

AntiWar
November 19, 2005

Iranian nuke warheads! – not

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

A year ago, Colin Powell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell) – then secretary
of state – told reporters about new, scary intelligence on Iran. Something about Iran
having a "nuke-capable" ballistic missile that could threaten "our allies".
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/02/20030205-1.html

Several "U.S. officials" immediately said Powell shouldn't have said anything; the
intelligence was too sensitive.

The New York Times reported last week that senior "intelligence officials" had – as a
secret part of a campaign to increase international pressure on Iran – briefed
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei and senior
staff in mid-July on some of the sensitive intelligence they had gleaned from a
"stolen Iranian laptop computer".
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f552c361c6d02dfc

They flashed on a screen and spread over a conference table selections from more than
a thousand pages of Iranian computer simulations and accounts of experiments. They
presented them as the strongest evidence yet that, despite Iran's insistence that its
nuclear program is peaceful, they must have developed nukes light enough and compact
enough to fit atop its Shahab missile, which can reach Israel and other countries in
the Middle East.

However, "sources close to the IAEA" said what they had been briefed on appeared to
be aerodynamic design work for a ballistic missile re-entry vehicle, which certainly
couldn't contain a nuke if the Iranians didn't have any.

Furthermore, according to David Albright (http://gobnf.org/i/unc/pi9.jpg), a sometime
consultant (http://www.isis-online.org/about/staff/dalbright.html) to the IAEA, who
has actually had access to the "stolen Iranian laptop", the information on it is all
about re-entry vehicles and "does not contain words such 'nuclear' and 'nuclear
warhead' ".

During the Iran-Iraq war in the late 1980s, each side launched 300 to 400 Scud
ballistic missiles at each other's cities. The Scud is a liquid-fueled single-stage
missile. The warhead remains attached to the missile throughout flight. On
re-entering the atmosphere, the entire missile frequently tumbles end-over-end,
breaking up into several pieces.

Very, very inaccurate.

During the Iran-Iraq war, both sides had chem-bio warfare agents and actually used
chemical agents against each other on the battlefield. But – perhaps because of the
inaccuracy – none of the Scuds carried chem-bio warfare agents.

Since then the Iranians have been attempting to develop – in conjunction with North
Korea – a super-Scud ballistic missile wherein the warhead – potted into a
cone-shaped "re-entry" vehicle for protection from the intense heat and shock of
re-entry into the atmosphere – detaches from the missile in flight. A properly
designed re-entry vehicle can deliver a warhead with great accuracy.

Now, the IAEA has two missions:

a) to facilitate the international transfer of nuclear-related technologies and
materials, and

b) to ensure – insofar as is possible – that "source and special nuclear materials"
are not used in furtherance of some military purpose.

Here's what the Iranian Safeguards Agreement actually says:

The Government of Iran undertakes, pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article III of the
Treaty, to accept safeguards, in accordance with the terms of this Agreement, on all
source or special fissionable material in all peaceful nuclear activities within its
territory, under its jurisdiction or carried out under its control anywhere, for the
exclusive purpose of verifying that such material is not diverted to nuclear weapons
or other nuclear explosive devices.

In verifying compliance, ElBaradei says his agency is bound to "follow due process,
which means I need to establish the veracity, consistency and authenticity of any
intelligence, and share it with the country of concern".

Sound familiar?

The "documents" we had purporting to show that Niger had agreed to sell up to 500
tons of yellowcake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowcake_forgery) from its IAEA
safeguarded mines to Iraq? The "documents" that ElBaradei attempted to get copies of
for months and months? The "documents" that ElBaradei concluded were clumsy forgeries
within hours of obtaining them?

The "documents" that Bush and Cheney used to justify the pre-emptive invasion of
Iraq?

Yep.

And here we go again.

Even though ElBaradei wouldn't budge, we bullied, blackmailed and/or intimidated a
majority of the IAEA Board of Governors into voting for a resolution in its last
meeting finding an "absence of confidence that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively
for peaceful purposes", giving rise to "questions that are within the competence of
the Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the
maintenance of international peace and security".

Now, maybe Iran's development and testing of a ballistic missile capable of carrying
a thousand-pound warhead a thousand miles or so does constitute a threat to
"international peace and security". But it's none of the IAEA Board's business.

The Board of Governors meets again next week.

* 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. Sen. 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

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

IAEA is doing Israel's bidding
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/953912efce75cbd9?hl=en

Without Discrimination
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e2a592e4c4c6fcf8?hl=en&

Authoritative mis-information on Iran
http://groups.google.ca/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

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

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

Fixing and forging intelligence
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/4c6663c968fd5f6c?hl=en

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

Stifling neo-crazy media sycophants
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/8790e709a9a122b4?hl=en

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

Nobel's peaceful kick to the groin
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/22f9662d106ce9c4?hl=en

Bolton the Peacemaker
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/de17232f52db3933?hl=en

Saving Face
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7da8706c13c8a059?hl=en

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

Unratified additional protocol
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1b2b77819b38d9e3?hl=en

The high price of hounding Iran
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7c854d944d6e061d?hl=en

Such a Blot
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/43ee2e2149e17310?hl=en

Weapons of Mass Murder
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0f3f87b645a72fde?hl=en

Neocrazies Foiled
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/86df9c0e9c38d475?hl=en

Iran knocks Europe out
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/497a81cb3c315c65?hl=en

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

There is Nothing to refer to UN Security Council
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/76824d9387903d4a?hl=en

WMD Postmortem
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0d02537756cafca8?hl=en

No wonder the West is so mad at Iran
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/83e63797f1a1af3b?hl=en

Bolton in a China Shop
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/9927bb4f65924e34?hl=en

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

Past Arguments Don't Square With Current Iran Policy
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f53d3a05bc5403c1?hl=en

The fuel behind Iran's nuclear drive
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/2fcf81313deb4ae0?hl=en

The U.S. and Iran: Democracy, Terrorism, and Nuclear Weapons
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0d0dcf76abbaafb1?hl=en

NO Nuclear double standards
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/8e41f4a8a1a3e04c?hl=en

Backlash Builds Against Cheney's 'Guns of August'
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/8286b2b389247d0a?hl=en

An offer Iran MUST refuse
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/743b96400831f8a1?hl=en

Zero Tolerance
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1641ae424fde5b89?hl=en

Sino-Russian Guarantees?
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/bd8f5389ab0e8956?hl=en

More neo-crazy media sycophant LIES about Iran
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/d3fe84a9b64d20bc?hl=en

What The Neo-Crazies Knew
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/6b45fabf57726a03?hl=en

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

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

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

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

U.S. proliferation rhetoric and reality
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7d8c268ee51c07be?hl=en

Ambassador Bolton's Agenda
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1ca916601b7a7bc8?hl=en

Iran's INALIENABLE RIGHT to uranium enrichment
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/245f6081b4e3d019?hl=en

A Palliative for Neo-Crazy Lies
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/1b7968f98173938d?hl=en

Inalienable right without discrimination
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/5012a673328fa044?hl=en

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

UN Referral – Not
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/bddc928154c8c96a?hl=en

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

Memo to slimy senators
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/7065ffd57b51a959?hl=en

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

U.S. has violated Iran's NPT rights!
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/02f1f48fafcac2b6?hl=en

Iran's diplomatic masterpiece
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f532352654efee1d?hl=en

Bush to sabotage NPT
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/6386adef83860d3e?hl=en

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

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

U.S. wants definition of NPT 'noncompliance' changed!!!
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/2abab5a7b8bce4c5?hl=en

NTP for dummies
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f317bb918ca244da?hl=en

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

The Real Threat From John Bolton
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/16fb61c3cca32703?hl=en

81-mm smoking rockets
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/fb2c580ba00d79a6?hl=en

U.S. plans to destroy NPT
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/760abaff1d8ac7c2?hl=en

Nuts to Bush
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/de936f823b4dfb11?hl=en

Iran's logic proven correct to the entire World
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/a5798de678dad2a9?hl=en

Sandbagging the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group)
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/238000abe8fe032e?hl=en

What Noncompliance?
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/32f537772749ecc2?hl=en

Sandbagging the EU
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/bb437d1ee00ad1e9?hl=en

Bye-Bye, NPT
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/eb8e9f617d0e0867?hl=en

Jew tells Bush to lie about Iran
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/c96849f55f92353e?hl=en

Targeting Non-existent Nukes?
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e25e86754767e3ef?hl=en

Blindly Backing Israel Against Iran
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/ca49370dcc1f41a4?hl=en

Condi Desperate to Stop EU-China-Iran Chain Reaction
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/26e6a24b43339654?hl=en

The Impossible Dream in the State of the Union Address
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/74938ea7958d0764?hl=en

Targeting Iran
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/dbb46af7ff3f0b66?hl=en

Bay of Pigs part 2, CIA-Israeli-MEK
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/b58f2a1d8b2290ff?hl=en

Threatening Iran - despite the evidence
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/ce6e09919da68cbb?hl=en

Virtual Nukes
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/c245e595ad17ae57?hl=en

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.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/303c3ca53b67c0a7?hl=en

Dangerous Delusions About Iran
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/42c57f2ae0cdb3b0?hl=en

Thwarting the Neo-Crazies
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/66c79d721fd588d4?hl=en

Trashing the IAEA Again
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f8c610f6cc9e1fda?hl=en

U.S. keeps lying about Iran again & again
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e9f480b192bd425e?hl=en

Iran's Stealthy Nukes
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/e47cc87d2b268368?hl=en

Uranium-Enrichment Myths Busted
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/f7ebc6f4bed9d13a?hl=en

Iran Plays by the Rules - No Fair!
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/25be300601cc8984?hl=en

Nuclear Bait and Switch
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0a0dc80ca3b8e98f?hl=en

The myth of Iranian nukes
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/bf78503a661673e9?hl=en

North Korea has what Iraq didn't
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/56f613221080276e?hl=en

Iran has absolute right to enrich uranium
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/0a8ac2dc599976ba?hl=en

Iran is in full compliance with NPT & IAEA
http://groups.google.ca/group/soc.culture.iranian/msg/737b74e86ba897cb?hl=en