President Bush argued in October, 2007, that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to “World War III.” Vice President Dick Cheney warned of “serious consequences” if Tehran did not stop trying to build nukes. THIS TIME we’re right they said. THIS TIME we can be trusted.
For that remnant of our most stupid citizens who still feel there is truth somewhere to be found in the George Bush administration or the Republican Party, today must be a very disappointing day indeed.
It turns out that all 16 America’s intelligence agencies have decided that in 2003 Iran had abandoned plans to produce nukes. Their conclusion was “We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003 Teheran ended its nuclear weapons program.” You can download the full text by going to Mark Kleiman’s blog, here. 2013 is the soonest our spy agencies think Iran could have a bomb.
For those who need reminding (and to be honest, I did) the push for upping American military pressure on Iran because it was supposedly trying to produce nukes came AFTER 2003. You can read about the report here.