This is what we call "unclear on the concept":
"As soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues and meet with Iran's representatives."
- top American "diplomat," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Shorter Condi: "We'll be glad to discuss our demands with Iran as soon as they agree to our demands."
Of course, being CondoLIEzza, she couldn't help but accompany this absurdity with a series of bold statements in the service of the big lie:
"The Iranian government...is...pursuing nuclear weapons in defiance of the international community."
As I have
written before with respect to the question of Iraqi WMD, it is the declaration of certainty which is the ultimate big lie. If Rice had said "suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons" or the like, that would at least be defensible, despite the fact that no serious evidence has been made public which would justify such a claim, not to mention the
convincing case that Iran has made in disavowing any such intentions. But, as with Iraqi WMD, it is no mere accident or slip of the tongue that such statements are made in the absolute. Because telling the American public "we think Iraq might have WMD" or "we think Iran might be pursuing nuclear weapons" isn't enough to whip the public into a sufficient state of anger to accept the resulting consequences (the invasion of Iraq, bombing or sanctions imposed on Iran).
And there's an interesting twist when it comes to Iran. Because as hard as it is to prove you don't have WMD, proving that you aren't pursuing them is even harder. Let's recall that George Bush has declared it unacceptable for Iran to even know how to make nuclear weapons. Which means that any Iranian reading a physics textbook, or just browsing the Internet, could be deemed to be "pursuing" nuclear weapons.
Reprinted from Left I on the News
