Speaking at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies on 10 April 2006, President George W. Bush referred to Iran’s “nuclear weapons program” as if the existence of such a program were a known fact. In the official White House transcript, Bush says:
…I want Russia to be a part of the — part of the team, trying to convince the Iranians to give up its nuclear weapons program.
As I heard it (at 9 minutes and 15 seconds into the video of his Q&A session), he fumbled just a bit more than the official transcript indicates:
…I want Russia to be a part of — part of the team — tryin’ to convince the Iranians to give up its [sic], uh, its nuclear weapons program.
Bush paused briefly, apparently choosing his words quite deliberately when speaking of a putative Iranian “nuclear weapons program.”
However, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Mohamad AlBaradei has stated that his agency has no evidence of the existence of such a program.
Earlier this year, at a White House press conference, President Bush erroneously stated that “the Iranians have said, we want a [nuclear] weapon.”
If the Bush administration has evidence of the existence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, it should provide it to the IAEA. If, however, Bush is asserting without evidence the existence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, then the American people need to know this when considering any case for war that the Bush administration may make.
Let’s start a pool:
What percentage of the American people will believe that Iran has nukes just because Dear Leader says so ?
As one of the millions of protesters around the world who knew he was lying about Iraq’s WMD, the yellowcake/aluminium tube story, the al-Qaeda connection, and responsibility for 911, long before the commencement of Shock and Awe, I was incredulous that ordinary citizens like me were capable of listening to former ambassadors, weapons inspectors and Middle East Studies professors, while the major news outlets beat the drums of war.
I can only hope that Bush’s track record of lying us into war has proved such an embarasssment to the fourth estate that they will overcome their fear of being perceived as “unpatriotic”, and hold his feet to the fire this time.
About 36%. My sister still believes the WMD bullshit.
Wow ! That was the same number I had in mind of the hardcore braindead who could watch Bush eat a live baby (just the dark meat)on stage, and still say that we have to support our pres’dent ‘cuz he’s a Gawd fearin’ Christian man.
What’s with your sister ? The folks I hear spouting pro-Bush crap get all their “news” from Rush and Sean and Bill, and are abysmally ignorant about EVERYTHING. (Correction: ignorance implies a lack of knowledge; these people have been brainwashed with anti-knowledge.) Once in a while I run across someone who is obviously uneasy, but would rather die than admit he was wrong, and a few have displaced all of their personal fears onto terrorism, wanting a strong leader who will basically kill everybody to keep them safe. What’s your sister’s rational, if that’s the right word for it ?
Oops….. rationale.
Good catch: that Bush deliberately refers to a nuclear weapons program. (I’m usually too busy wincing at his pronunication of “nuclear” to hear the rest.) An important key to the neocon plot. This needs to get a lot of attention.