Promoted from the diaries by Steven D. And great find, Mr. Maschke.

At a White House press conference convened on Thursday, 26 January 2005, in response to a reporter’s question regarding under what parameters the U.S. might find Iran’s nuclear power program acceptable, President George W. Bush warned, “And the Iranians have said, we want a [nuclear] weapon.” However, Bush’s claim is completely untrue: the Iranian government has consistently denied that it has any desire to acquire a nuclear weapon. No one in the White House press corps challenged the President on this.


How could the President of the United States utter such a blatant falsehood at a nationally televised press conference? I am inclined to believe that the President was not consciously attempting to deceive. Perhaps his misapprehension stems from CNN’s mistranslation of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s remarks at a press conference held on 14 January 2005. CNN erroneously quoted Ahmadinejad as saying, “the use of nuclear weapons is Iran’s right.” In fact, what he had said was, “The use of nuclear energy and technology is Iran’s right.” CNN very publicly apologized for the error. President Bush should have been briefed on this. If he wasn’t, then why not?

At a time when the United States is reportedly contemplating a “pre-emptive” strike against Iran, possibly using nuclear weapons, it should be deeply troubling to all that the President of the United States should be so badly misinformed about the Iranian government’s public pronouncements regarding its nuclear program.

Here is the relevant excerpt from the White House transcript (emphasis added):

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning. On the subject of Iran, what parameters might the U.S. be willing to accept Iran having a nuclear power program? And to the extent that you’ve said in the past that the United States supports the Iranian people, would you support expedited legislation, or a move that would send resources to such groups in Iran that might hasten regime change or democratic reform?

THE PRESIDENT: I have made it clear that I believe that the Iranians should have a civilian nuclear program — power program under these conditions: that the material used to power the plant would be manufactured in Russia, delivered under IEEE — IAEA inspections — inspectors to Iran to be used in that plant, the waste of which will be picked up by the Russians and returned to Russia. I think that is a good plan. The Russians came up with the idea, and I support it.

And the reason why I think it makes sense is because I do believe people ought to be able to be allowed to have civilian nuclear power. However, I don’t believe non-transparent regimes that threaten the security of the world should be allowed to gain the technologies necessary to make a weapon. And the Iranians have said, we want a weapon.

And it’s not in the world’s interest that they have a weapon. And so we are working hard to continue the diplomacy necessary to send a focused message to the Iranian government, and that is, your desires for a weapon are unacceptable. Part of that is — part of that diplomacy was to provide an acceptable alternative to the Iranian desire to have a civilian nuclear power industry.

And secondly, we will support freedom movements all around the world. I constantly talked about today’s reformers will be tomorrow’s leaders, and therefore, we will work with groups that demand for people to be given the natural rights of men and women, and that right is to live in a free society.

Update [2006-1-27 9:43:42 by George Maschke]:

David E. Sanger and Elaine Sciolino of the New York Times did catch Bush’s error. In an article titled, “Bush and China Endorse Russia’s Nuclear Plan for Iran” and dated 27 Jan., they write, among other things:

Mr. Bush made his statement embracing the Russian idea at a news conference on Thursday. He said, “The Iranians have said, ‘We want a weapon.’ ”

In fact, Iran has denied that it is pursuing a weapon, and in the afternoon, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, acknowledged that Mr. Bush had misspoken.

“He was referring to their behavior,” Mr. McClellan said by telephone later. “Our concern is their intention is to develop a nuclear weapon under the guise of a civilian program.”

Nonetheless, Mr. Bush’s slip may cement the perception among some members of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency that he has decided, at least in his own mind, that Iran is intent on building a weapon as fast as it can, a situation he has said repeatedly that he will not tolerate….