Long Way Away From a Bomb

I am still trying to get caught up with everything after two weeks of travel but I happened onto something that I felt needed wider attention. The American people are being played for patsies one more time with an attempt by the administration to scare us into believing that attacking Iran is something we have to do because diplomacy has failed.

Most people are woefully ignorant when it comes to such things as weapons grade unranium and rightly so since it is not something most need to worry about. Unfortuneately with "tactical nuclear weapons" in the discussions about doing something to Iran 'cause they are making a bomb it is fortunate we have someone like Juan Cole to put it in perspective for us and actually tell us what is really going on.

The ability to slightly enrich uranium is not the same as the ability to build a bomb. For the latter, you need at least 80% enrichment, which in turn would require about 16,000 small centrifuges hooked up to cascade. Iran does not have 16,000 centrifuges. It seems to have 180. Iran is a good ten years away from having a bomb, and since its leaders, including Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei, say they do not want an atomic bomb because it is Islamically immoral, you have to wonder if they will ever have a bomb.

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Likewise, Bush is trying to shore up his base, which is desperately unhappy with the Iraq situation, by rattling sabres at Iran. Bush’s poll numbers are so low, often in the mid-30s, that he must have lost part of his base to produce this result. Iran is a great deus ex machina for Bush. Rally around the flag yet again.

Read the whole thing and while your at it check out the more recent post concerning how well things are going in Iraq right.