Whoever wins the 2008 presidential election will have a serious problem facing them right from the start. ABC News is reporting that Iran may have nuclear weapons by 2009. At the same time some folks in Congress are busily trying to undercut the presidency, the mullahs are off to the nuclear races. Putting internal politics ahead of the national interest may pay unintended dividends sooner than a lot of people seem to realize.
Iran has more than tripled its ability to produce enriched uranium in the last three months, adding some 1,000 centrifuges which are used to separate radioactive particles from the raw material.
The development means Iran could have enough material for a nuclear bomb by 2009, sources familiar with the dramatic upgrade tell ABC News.
The sources say the unexpected expansion is taking place at Iran's nuclear enrichment plant outside the city of Natanz, in a hardened facility 70 feet underground.
A spokesperson for the United Nation's International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, declined to comment citing the "extreme sensitivity" of the situation with Iran.
Iran has already declared its above-ground operations at Natanz have some 320 centrifuges.
The sheer foolishness of the left is stunning. They keep right on with their attacks in the face of a growing international threat with no regard whatsoever of the damage they are doing to the US and the entire West. I have been warning about this for some time, now the chickens appear to be heading to roost. It isn't quite too late to wake up, but it is very, very close to being out of time completely.
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You think it’s utterly clear that the Iranians are trying to get nukes, beyond any rational argument, don’t you? I agree that Iran is *probably* trying to get a nukes. Probably isn’t certainly. Remember how it was utterly clear that Sadaam had WMDs. Learn from experience. Have some humility, recognize that you just might possibly be wrong. I repeat: Iran is *probably* trying to get nukes. Are they dead set on it? Maybe.
If this country had any sense, it would do a deal with Iran saying, OK you can enrich uranium. If you want to acquire the technical capability to enrich to weapons-grade level, OK. But stay in the NPT and we want intrusive international controls by competent people (UN weapons inspectors) to make sure you don’t let the enriched uranium get to non-state actors. That’s something Iran might be able to sign on to. They don’t like Al-Qaeda much more than we do.