Journal einhverfr's Journal: A word about Iran

There has been a lot of criticism from both Republicans and Democrats about the latest National Intelligence Estimate's assessment of Iran's nuclear weapons program. Most of this criticism doesn't withstand even a cursory reading of the document. The document does, to some extent vindicate the Bush Administration's concerns about Iranian nuclear weapons development, and it does suggest that we need to apply serious pressure to keep the weapons program stopped. In short it is not nearly as soft on Iran as critics on all sides would want people to believe.

In fact the Bush Administration is quite right that we need to keep pressure up on Iran to stop nuclear fuel enrichment except as might be subject to extremely thorough and intrusive third-party (probably IAEA) inspections.

However this does not address I think the big issue with the document-- that it shows that the Bush Administration is lying again to the American people to whip up fear and support for his agenda just like he did with Iraq. Democracy is castrated when the people are lied to. We have been saddled with this mess (which is now our responsibility to somehow fix) because we rushed to war due to lies. Now we know it is happening again, so the urge is to turn away from policies which should have our support for the right rather than the wrong reasons.

We need a clear, calm, and generally honest voice about what is actually going on. Now is not the time for the arrogance of power.

In the end, this may all be good. International pressure is continuing on Iran and not just from the United States. At the same time, this may help lead the way to real change (regardless of which party wins) in the next Presidential election.