Is Iran just weeks away from being a nuclear power?
DoctorZin
Last month I warned that Iran must shut down all of its uranium enrichment centrifuges, including the twenty "experimental" centrifuges. Why? Because Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had demanded
"We must have two bombs ready to go in January or you are not Muslims."
I explained that
western intelligence can identify when enrichment centrifuges are running because the produce a unique "noise" or "signature." Thus, I argued that Iran would never shut these last centrifuges down.
Iran needed these last centrifuges to run in order to mask a "hidden" lab of centrifuges needed in order to meet this deadline.
Unfortunately, when the issue came up at the EU3/Iran negotiations, Iran "compromised" by allowing these centrifuges to continue running "empty" but under the supervision of an IAEA video camera. In other words, Iran was able to continue it's secret program.
Now we discover that Iran is willing to violate the spirit of even this agreement with the EU3 by continuing to prepare raw uranium for enrichment. According to today's
NY Times:
``The Iranians have decided to continue UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) production until the end of February.''
UF4 is a precursor to uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the gas that is fed into centrifuges which spin at supersonic speeds to purify it for use as fuel in civilian nuclear power plants or in atomic weapons. ...
the IAEA said the deal between the EU's ``big three'' and Iran actually permitted Tehran to convert an entire batch of 37 tonnes of yellowcake...
nuclear experts said that 37 tonnes of yellowcake could yield enough uranium for up to five nuclear weapons, if it was later enriched to bomb grade purity. ...
It now appears Iran may be just a matter of weeks from declaring itself a nuclear power.
Time is running out, our intelligence services understand this. The only question now is whether or not we will be forced to act or accept the inevitable.
President Bush, faster please.
Psychological scars run deep a year after Bam earthquake in Iran
Red Crescent workers offer relief to the stricken
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
http://dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11203
GENEVA: Domestic violence and drug addiction mar the Iranian city of Bam as residents suffer psychological problems one year after a massive earthquake killed more than 31,000 of their relatives, friends and neighbors, the Red Cross federation said.
For the first time in its history, the agency deployed a psychological support program immediately after the disaster, and said that it hoped to use the lessons that are still being learnt when it tackles the next crisis.
Some 75,000 people were left homeless by the quake that struck on Dec. 26, 2003, and almost every family in the city of about 120,000 lost a loved one, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said late Monday.
"Twelve months later, signs of the devastation are still evident, not just in the collapsed buildings but in people's minds," said Mohammed Mukhier, head of the international federation's operations in Iran.
Thousands of people have displayed psychological problems ranging from sleeping disorders and an inability to socialize normally to explosive behavior and domestic violence, the agency warned.
There had also been a dramatic increase in drug abuse.
However, Mukhier said the model of integrating psychological support into a relief effort following a disaster had shown positive results.
"Our experience in Iran can be used in response to future disasters elsewhere, and we should take care to provide that support to the victims and to rescue workers," he said in a statement.
A team of Red Crescent aid workers in Bam have interviewed more than 20,000 people following the quake. Out of some 9,300 who were identified as needing psychological support, more than 5,600 have received counseling.
The types of support include group therapy, painting, sewing, computer classes and play therapy for children, the federation explained.
"The aim of the group activities is to get people to talk about their experiences and not to keep them tucked away in an isolated corner in their minds," said Aghdas Coffee, who heads the programme, which is supported by the Red Cross Societies of Iceland, Denmark and Italy.
The European Union's humanitarian office is the main funder of the initiative, which continues to receive new patients.
In September alone, 129 new patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder were registered at one Red Crescent counseling center.
"The problem is compounded by an increase in drug addiction following the earthquake," the federation said, noting that the city lay on the smuggling route through Iran from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Physical restructuring work is also ongoing after the tremor, which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale, destroyed all 131 schools in the city as well as its hospitals and clinics, the federation added.
World community raps Iran on human rights
UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly has criticized the human rights situation in Iran in a relatively close vote that lashed out at restrictions on free speech under Tehran's Islamic regime.
The Assembly, which groups all 191 UN member states, approved the resolution 71-54, with 55 abstentions late Monday. Resolutions adopted by the assembly are not legally binding but do reflect international opinion.
The measure was sponsored by Canada, whose relations with Iran have taken a turn for the worse since Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi died while in custody in Iran last year.
Cosponsored by 33 other nations including Tehran's arch-foes Israel and the United States, the resolution stopped short of condemning Iran outright but said member states had "serious concern" over a long list of rights abuses.
It took aim at the clerical regime for "the worsening situation with regard to freedom of opinion and expression" and the "targeted disqualification" of reformists in Iran's parliamentary elections.
Iran also continues to use "torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment," including amputation, flogging and the execution of those under 18 years of age, the assembly said.
It added that reformists, religious dissidents and the political opposition were subject to continuing persecution and said Iran had failed to comply with international standards of justice and due process.
"Dead Men Walking" members of MKO repatriated to Iran
Persian Journal
Iran News
"Dead Men Walking" members of MKO repatriated to Iran
Dec 21, 2004, 12:36
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/printer_5046.shtml
MKO members who have recently renounced the grouplet in Iraq arrived home in Tehran on Monday. The repatriation was conducted under supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
According to IRNA, the group consisted of MKO veterans who had ideological challenges with their high ranking figures and voiced readiness to come back home.
These members will join their families after medical tests which may last five to seven days, said a security official at Mehrabad International Airport.
Another 600 MKO members are in coordination with ICRC to leave Iraq and repatriate, said Behrouz Soltani an former MKO member.
"We, as well as other MKO members, were under a very severe and intolerable situation in Iraq and were doing a count-down to return home," he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday that repatriation of these people are in line with supporting the civic rights of all Iranians.
The Islamic Republic of Iran lauds the efforts of the ICRC which help prepare grounds for repatriation of others who voice readiness, Asefi said.
Doc, thank you for taking the time to share your insights with us. Time IS running out. I take the leaders of Iran very seriously. I wish the rest of the world did as well.
