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Saturday, December 08, 2007

Oct 17 Statement

From the White House website.
Q But you definitively believe Iran wants to build a nuclear weapon?

THE PRESIDENT: I think so long -- until they suspend and/or make it clear that they -- that their statements aren't real, yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon. And I know it's in the world's interest to prevent them from doing so. I believe that the Iranian -- if Iran had a nuclear weapon, it would be a dangerous threat to world peace.

But this -- we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon...
Parsing the President's statement:

"I think so long -- until they suspend and/or make it clear that they -- that their statements aren't real, yeah,..."
- Certainly a section where the President is talking but the meaning is less than precise. Initially he says yes to the direct question followed immediately by a softening of that answer. He is trying to properly temper his statement based on his knowledge of the N.I.E. and the adjustment is not clear. The part about 'that their statements aren't real' is especially tricky. What 'statements' is he referring to.

"..., yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon." - There is a big difference between having the capacity to do something, and having the knowledge to do something. Knowledge is an aspect of capacity but capacity requires more than knowledge. It requires physical material. So initially he says capacity then refrains and calls it knowledge. The knowledge to make a nuclear weapon is available to almost anyone who wants to find it. As I have mentioned, the plans for a nuclear bomb were published in a late 1970's issue of 'Progressive Magazine'. So the knowledge is practically universally available. To imagine that the academic community in every country does not have this knowledge is fantasy. This aspect of the statement implies fear, but a fear based on a universal knowledge. This is impractical.

"And I know it's in the world's interest to prevent them from doing so. I believe that the Iranian -- if Iran had a nuclear weapon, it would be a dangerous threat to world peace." - The consensus is that President Bush made this statement with complete knowledge of the most recent N.I.E. stating that Iran suspended its nuclear bomb ambitions in 2003. In this light he is making an accusation fully aware that there is no present danger. He tries to mollify the fear implied in his statement with the word 'if.'

"But this -- we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon..." - Here the President reiterates the knowledge point. The Iranians already have the knowledge to make nuclear weapon. This would be standard information at any academic setting. The notion that knowledge alone can somehow be removed or eliminated is impractical and fantastic excepting annihilation.

3 comments:

Glynn Kalara said...

Sad isn't that we have such a brain addled klown sitting with his middle finger on the red button. Like that kid who went out yesterday taking 8 others with him because somebody dissed him, BV$H acts like a dissed 19 yr. old when he doesn't get his way. The problem for humanity is he has his finger on a trigger that could end human civilization for a very long time. It didn't matter to that pathetic teenager the other day who he killed as long as the rest of us got the message. 2008/09 is going to be a very scary yr.
At the end of his thousand yr. Reich AH ordered the destruction of what remained of his own country. Had he had nukes what do u think he would have done?

Jim Sande said...

The thing that gets me is the sheer audacity of the man. Clearly Iraq has been a disaster, who can deny it, and we have come to see how he pushed the country into an elective war. And we see that the country wants out. The country sees it as a big mistake.

Now he's trying to do it again, same M.O. same tricks, same accusations, who can possibly trust anything about him. What is the man thinking. What on earth is really going on in his head. He's drawn to war like a moth is to a flame.

Glynn Kalara said...

He isn't thinking, he's obviously surrounded himself with a chorus of people who merely reinforce the bubble of distorted reality, he lives in."
I was listening to some military wife on NPR the other day dissing the poll recently taken that revealed that a majority of military families now think the war was a big mistake and should be ended. Her comment was telling. She said that "in her circle" the war was still seen as a glorious necessity and that she disagreed with the polls findings. She also said those families were just tired of the war not against its reason for happening. She obviously lives in the same distorted reality bubble that GWBV$H and millions of his followers are locked into. They are on a crusade against Islam and nothing anyone says to them will change their views. The Nazis were once on a similar crusade against Jews 70 yrs ago. We have to get these folks out of power ASAP.