Obama Administration: Revealing Iran's Nuke Facility All Part Of The Master Plan

Yep, sure it is.

A senior US official says the disclosure of a second, secret Iranian uranium enrichment facility "sets back Iran's nuclear program and increases our leverage. And we intend to use it." Several officials briefed reporters after President Obama, French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown revealed the existence of the facility, before the start of economic meetings at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh.

President Obama called the plant, which is not yet operational, "a direct challenge" to the international community. President Sarkozy said "If by December there is not an in-depth change by the Iranian leaders, sanctions will have to be taken." Prime Minister Brown said the world "has no choice but to draw a line in the sand."

Here's the thing, who is this supposed to impress? There's not a single serious minded person who doesn't already know Iran is working on acquiring nuclear weapons.

Are the Russians and the Chinese suddenly going to say, "Oh well, this? This changes everything!"? Of course not.

Yes, I get the idea that it's a bit of stage craft to move things along. The problem with moving things along is they are still operating within the IAEA/UN Security Council model. The Security Council has been sitting on the Iranian issue for over 3 and a half years.

Iran will look at that and the fact that Obama's fancy new non-proliferation/disarmament resolution doesn't even mention them by name and conclude correctly, we aren't series.

And while the UK and France may be talking tough, where's Germany (a member of the so-called P5 Plus 1 Group)? More importantly, where are Russia and China? Supposedly the latter two are "absorbing" the news of this facility. If this were really a serious change in the efforts to deal with Iran, why not orchestrate a joint appearance of all relevant parties? They are all together in Pittsburgh right now.

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad says, shut up.

If Iran is going to give up its nuclear program, it's going to have to be pried from their cold dead hands.

posted by DrewM. at 12:19 PM

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