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Countdown to Mushroom Cloud
The Woodward Report ^ | September 26, 2009 | By David Usborne and Andrew Grice

Posted on 09/27/2009 4:59:13 PM PDT by honestabe010

The crisis in relations with Iran escalated ominously yesterday after the leaders of the US, Britain and France accused the regime in Tehran of operating a secret uranium enrichment facility buried deep in a mountain bunker near the ancient religious city of Qom. Barack Obama called Iran's activity "a direct challenge" to the international community.

The accusations were made public in an extraordinary joint statement by the US President, flanked by Gordon Brown and the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy before the start of the G20 economic summit in Pittsburgh.

Iran had previously insisted that its plant at Natanz, which is open to international inspection, was the only one involved in enrichment. The new revelation sharply raises the stakes at a time when Israel has been signalling that military strikes against Iran are on the table.

Western sources said the plant at Qom, 120 miles south-west of Tehran, is not yet operational. But it is designed to hold about 3,000 centrifuge machines, which would provide the uranium needed to produce one atomic bomb a year. "Iran has enough uranium to go the whole way," one Western diplomat said. A senior US official said that number of centrifuges could not produce enough uranium to make sense commercially for power generation. "But if you want to use the facility to produce a small amount of weapons-grade uranium, enough for a bomb or two a year, it's the right size."

He stressed that making a bomb was "still some way off" but that the plant gives Iran "more options." French officials said the secret plant was in a "heavily protected" area under the control of the Revolutionary Guards loyal to Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad...

(Excerpt) Read more at thewoodwardreport.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: ahmadinejad; bhomiddleeast; bhonukes; iran; iraniannukes; nuclearbomb; qom; tm
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To: billmor

“Yes—a Frenchman...”

We certainly have come full-circle, then. :(


41 posted on 09/28/2009 4:54:36 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

“It’s now ‘climate change.’”

Sorry. You think I’d know. I had one of the remaining LibTards that work with me point that out the other day. He truly believes man is evil and responsible for everything wrong with the planet.

I, however, say we ROCK and RULE the planet...so we definitely come from opposite positions, LOL!


42 posted on 09/28/2009 4:57:09 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: ETL
May 18, 2008: Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union.

How long since there's been a Soviet Union? I haven't heard anyone else remark on this anachronism. If it had been Sarah Palin, we'd never have heard the end of it.
43 posted on 09/28/2009 5:01:11 AM PDT by aruanan
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