Iran, a Nuclear Clusterf*ck

Not surprisingly, Iran, according to the EU, is on course to build a nuclear bomb.

Iran will be able to develop enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb and there is little that can be done to prevent it, an internal European Union document has concluded.

In an admission of the international community’s failure to hold back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the document [...] says the atomic programme has been delayed only by technical limitations rather than diplomatic pressure. “Attempts to engage the Iranian administration in a negotiating process have not so far succeeded,” it states.

This is on the heels of reports that Iran, and Ayatollah Ali Khameni in particular, is arming Iraqi insurgents.

Field investigations, serial number tracking, and interrogation transcripts helped convince a reluctant intelligence community and the Bush administration that Iran was a major factor in the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq.

After nearly two weeks of delays and last-minute modifications, three senior American officers in Baghdad yesterday presented a roomful of reporters with slides, old ordnance, and a briefing that accused the Iranian regime of culpability in the deaths of 170 soldiers. [...]

According to reports from the briefing in Baghdad yesterday, American commanders said Iran's export of the bombs to Iraqi Shiite militias was a deliberate strategy of the regime, noting that the Quds Force reports directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A report which was later confirmed by Tony Snow.

The Bush administration is confident the report about the weapons flow from Iran
into Iraq is accurate, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Monday.

Although today there seems to be an about-face.

The top U.S. military officer said Tuesday the discovery that roadside bombs in Iraq contained material made in Iran does not necessarily mean the Iranian government was involved in supplying insurgents.

The comments by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called into question assertions by three senior U.S. military officials in Baghdad on Sunday who said the highest levels of Iranian government were responsible for arming Shiite militants in Iraq with the bombs, blamed for the deaths of more than 170 troops in the U.S.-led coalition.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Monday he was confident the weaponry was coming with the approval of the Iranian government. On Tuesday, Snow said Pace's comments do not conflict with those of the senior military officials or the White House.

Pace told reporters in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, that U.S. forces hunting militant networks in Iraq that produced roadside bombs had arrested Iranians and some of the materials used in the devices were made in Iran.

"That does not translate that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this," Pace said. "What it does say is that things made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers."

And later, Snow was pressed for a clear answer regarding this seeming contradiction of intelligence.

"Well, I think what General Pace may have been saying — in fact, I know he’s saying — he is — and this is where we get to the rhetorical question I was asking you before. Do we have a signed piece of paper from Mr. Khamenei or from President Ahmadinejad signing off on this? No. But are the Quds Forces part of the army — part of the government? The answer is yes. So the question is, I think this ends up being a semantic dispute about senior levels of the government or the government. And the fact is, the government knows about it."

Um... seriously, what the f*ck is going on?