Posted on 04/12/2006 5:03:46 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
Iran could build a nuclear weapon within "days" once it completes plans to beef up its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, a State Department official said Wednesday.
"Natanz was constructed to house 50,000 centrifuges," Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters in Moscow. "Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days."
Earlier on Wednesday, Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, appeared on Iran's state-run TV network to announce plans for "industrial scale" uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at the Natanz facility, according to the Associated Press.
Rademaker, whose stunning "nukes-in-days" prediction was first reported by Bloomberg News, offered his comments in reaction to Saeedi's announcement.
Iran's first successful attempt to enrich uranium, announced Tuesday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was accomplished with just 164 centrifuges. While it's not clear how quickly Iran could reach the 50,000 centrifuge mark, there are indications that the rogue nation is already much closer than indicated by Tuesday's announcement.
Last August, an exiled Iranian dissident who helped uncover nearly two decades of covert nuclear activity in 2002, told the Associated Press that Iran has already manufactured thousands of centrifuges capable of enriching uranium to weapons grade.
"4,000 centrifuge machines have not been declared to the IAEA," Alireza Jafarzadeh said. "And the regime has kept the production of these machines hidden from the inspectors while the negotiations with the European Union have been going on over the past 21 months."
In Feb. 2003, UN nuclear watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei visited Natanz. He reported that in a nearby building, workers were assembling parts for thousands of centrifuges.
The Natanz facility is buried 75 feet underground and has a reinforced concrete roof, according to GlobalSecurity.org.
I'm with you on that one. How was it put on that Christmas song? "Let them glow, let them glow, let them glow!"
What insightful analysis.
Yeah, but likewise if we attack Iran. Personally, I am quite skeptical that Iran is any sort of nuclear threat for a few years, or maybe longer. But who knows? They are acting so weird, I think our best bet is to "go weird" along with them. In a way, this is what we are doing by our saber rattling. I think we should rachet it up a notch. Overflights. That's my idea. Just zoom right over Tehran. Why not?
We need to scare them. As of now, they are not scared.
-ccm
-ccm
Something very disturbing has been in the air for some time now. Here's hoping that I'm just getting too much news.
I have often wondered why God gave man the brain, the ability and the inclination to create weapons of mass destruction. I guess it's just nature, nature is capable of mutating/evolving and creating devastating biological forms after all ............... or are we humans some kind of diabolical alien theatre experimentation?
It all seems to be coming to a head. I feel like hiding in the den and watching the Three Stooges.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
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Here's hoping you are right.
Yoi!
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
That seems to have been happening to a large number of microbiologists the past few years.
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http://www.chemtrailcentral.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000623.html
Man also has the ability to find cures. We have the ability to not SEEK martyrdom- but when called, we can decide to take our plane into a Penssylvania field to save others, and inspire a nation under attack, that we are NOT weak, and we will NOT FALL!
Our abilities are vast, it is how we choose to use them. Nothing would be special about the good things, if good things were all we could do.
I believe the most tremendous gift man has is something as simple as touch.
When the world seems to be on fire, and everything is crashing down, sometimes a something as simple as a hug can destroy the helplessness and replace it with hope.
Dean, Boxer, Kerry and Biden all say 5-10. Actually... they couldn't care less if they had them already.
I suspect the announcement was intended to slow down any impending attack. With 164 centrifuges it would take years to accumulate enough bomb grade material. If, however, they are actually running 4000 then they likely already have enough or will very shortly.
If you believe their public statements then we have lots of time to deal with them. This will reduce the urgency in the minds of the international community giving Iran a chance to build a number of bombs.
I believe the most tremendous gift man has is something as simple as touch.
"Touch" is great, "being in touch", to me, is better. Most of our citizens are relatively politically clueless........... and the Canadians think we have bloodlust and want to destry the world. Go figure.
When the world seems to be on fire, and everything is crashing down, sometimes something as simple as a hug can destroy the helplessness and replace it with hope.
That is a very sweet thought. You are in a wonderful mood this morning.
My cup is never half empty, and never half full. My cup runneth over!
(kidding now, but brings to mind this story) I hope you're not one of these gals:
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Three women claim a plastic surgeon on the Upper East Side of Manhattan botched their breast surgeries. This isn't the first time this doctor has been accused of negligence.
The Investigators Sarah Wallace has the exclusive report. There's a common theme here: the women all allege that Plastic Surgeon Dr. Brad Jacobs put in implants that were too big for their bodies -- and that they never wanted to be that big.
Have a great day ...... the sun is shining here after a nice rain for the plants at 2:00 a.m. It must be Camelot.
For bombs, the basic science is largely over. It's just technical now. And a lot of nuclear tech was pioneered 60 years ago, and is now sort of sophisticated "off-the-shelf" with many Paki, North Korean, and Chinese Technicians available, under the direction of some former Soviet, all too ready to help anyone read the catalogs and set up the right stuff.
Ya wanna bomb? It's now really "a piece of (yellow) cake," if you have the money and not that much time. Unfortunately, we've given them time, and buying their oil, the money.
Maybe so, but they could literally "wipe Israel off the map". There is no guarantee that they would only use missile delivery. Trucks carrying nuclear weapons could take out London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Athens and Rome. I'm sure these maniac mullahs would love nothing better than to destroy Rome & the Vatican - in fact I'd be willing to bet that is their target #2 - right behind Jerusalem.
Iran is as big as all of Western Europe. The targets are 1500 miles or more apart. We could nuke every site (WE KNOW OF) and still risk biological or dirty bomb strikes via mobile-launched missile on Tel Aviv and Riyadh. (Think bigger and better SCUDS, now with real guidance systems (than you Bill), solid fuel and 1500-mile range.
My theory and I desperately wish it disproven, is that this just might be the Shi'a Death Wish and their plan to purify Islam by giving Allah a clean slate. The goat-buggering SOBs want us to attack.
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