It’s the little vindictive moments that keep me going. It’s better than all bad news all the time ($2 billion of king crab in a MONTH??!!), and I have a reason to get up in the morning. It’s not that I don’t already have reasons, but finding someone’s fluff-up is cheering. We have to laugh somehow, before we run out of tears. With appreciation to Raw Story:
Experts are pushing back on recent claims by President Donald Trump that Iran was just weeks away from obtaining a nuclear weapon before the United States military action late last month. Trump has said in recent days that Iran would have had a nuclear weapon within two weeks if the U.S. had not launched aerial strikes. But reporting from NBC News and statements from nuclear experts suggest the president’s timeline “is not true.”
Nyah nyah nyah! FAIL. We’ve been watching them for decades. We have satellites. Somehow, I think we’d at least have a hint of it if they had gone back to their weapons program. We can certainly see things in North Korea, so why not the Middle East? And why can’t I remember more about the Iran agreement?
“Before U.S.-Israeli airstrikes in June, Iran was days away from having enough fissile material for multiple nuclear weapons, according to U.S. intelligence agencies and the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency,” according to the report. However, producing an actual nuclear weapon would require “designing, manufacturing, and testing” a warhead capable of being mounted on a ballistic missile – a process experts told NBC News would likely take months or even a year.
Yea no. They weren’t there yet. They have to have a way to *carry* that uranium to a target. In a manner of speaking, enriching the uranium is the easy part. There’s a whole lot more that goes with it. Admittedly, I am no expert, but if you really *think* about it, there’s a lot that goes into making one nuclear-tipped missile. You can figure that out with even a rudimentary education. Seems to me this was simply an excuse. They have nukes, so we have to take them down. Uh, no. Not hardly or easily.
U.S. intelligence agencies have maintained that Iran has not decided to revive its weapons program, which was halted in 2003. “It would be inaccurate to suggest Iran was two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon before the U.S. and Israel launched the current air war on Feb. 28 because of the damage done by the June strikes, according to assessments from the IAEA and independent nuclear experts,” NBC News reported Monday. Iran does retain significant nuclear material, the outlet added. “Before the June airstrikes, the IAEA said Iran had 972 pounds of uranium enriched to a level of 60%,” it said. “If it were enriched further to about 90%, that would be enough fissile material for roughly a dozen atomic bombs.”
Last I knew, those bombs dropped last year took out the exterior but not the interior of those locations. Trump had egg on his face because he said words to the effect of total obliteration before the dust had cleared. It wasn’t. He insisted it was ad nauseam. We know better. Just like we know better now. The current question is whether the war is over. I’m hoping for over, done, finished. May not be that lucky.
See you soon!
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise that among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest-working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
