Bush: U.S. Must Remain Vigilant On Iran

President George W. Bush today said that the international community should continue to pressure Iran on its nuclear programs, asserting that Iran remains dangerous despite a new intelligence conclusion that the country halted its development of a nuclear bomb four years ago. "I view this report as a warning signal that they had the program, they halted the program," said the conservative Republican president. "The reason why it's a warning signal is they could restart it."

President Bush spoke one day after a new national intelligence estimate found that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in Autumn 2003, largely because of international scrutiny and pressure. That finding is in stark contrast to the comparable intelligence estimate of just two years ago, when U.S. intelligence agencies believed Iran was determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability and was continuing its weapons development program. The new report is also in marked contrast to President Bush's rhetoric on Iran. At his last news conference on October 17, he said that people "interested in avoiding World War III" should be working to prevent Iran from having the knowledge needed to make a nuclear weapon.

President Bush said that he only learned of the new intelligence assessment last week. But he portrayed it as valuable ammunition against Iran, not as a reason to lessen diplomatic pressure. "To me, the NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) provides an opportunity for us to rally the international community — to continue to rally the community — to pressure the Iranian regime to suspend its program," he said. "What's to say they couldn't start another covert nuclear weapons program." He also asserted that the report means "nothing's changed," focusing on the previous existence of a weapons program and not addressing the discrepancy between his rhetoric and the disclosure that weapons program has been frozen for four years.

My respones: The media makes it sound like only President Bush had rhetoric re: this situation. Ahem, Iran's rhetoric over the years - coupled with secrecy about what it was doing with its uranium - has been a big contributor to escalating tensions.