Distorting Iranian Nuclear Behavior

Media distortion of Iranian behavior and subsequent Republican hysteria risk provocation of U.S. or Israeli attack on false pretenses.

In a critically important analysis of Iran’s nuclear status in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 3/19/10, Ivan Oelrich and Ivanka Barzashka expose a U.S. media bias that could provoke yet another U.S. war of aggression on false pretenses, stating flatly in regards to the IAEA’s February report:

the media has seriously misrepresented the actual contents of the report. In fact, no new information has been revealed.

The authors go on to illustrate the seriousness of the misinformation, which has led to hysterical [my word] public reactions by various Republican Congressmen:

Pete Hoekstra of Michigan has insisted that the IAEA report is an "indictment" of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which claimed Iran had ceased its weapons work back in 2003. Indiana Republican Cong. Dan Coats told the conservative magazine Human Events that "the only option now is . . . military action."

Oelrich and Barzashka continue:

1. First, there is no independent assessment that Iran is engaged in weapons work….
2. More importantly, the report doesn't contain any evidence that the public hasn't already seen.

They present no pro-Iran case, instead noting severely:

The regime seems to positively savor making it as difficult as possible to give it the benefit of the doubt. Alleged weapon research has no innocent justification and, if real, would make a damning case against the regime. That said, an already dangerous standoff is being made worse by the distortion of this recent IAEA report.

As the American public attempts to judge the Obama Administration’s failure to invite Iran to its recent nonproliferation conference, its threatening language shifts in the new Nuclear Posture Review, and its refusal so far to settle the issue of delivering medical-grade uranium to Iran, the background provided in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is essential reading.