Bryan A. Burchill: Iran: The Terrorism Trump Card!

The UK's Guardian recently interviewed "the current and former US and European officials with access to intelligence on Iran," and concluded that the United States, its European allies, and even Israel, agree that Tehran is probably years away from having a deliverable nuclear warhead. Twice in recent weeks, CBC News anchor Peter Mansbridge has closely questioned two leaders who hold a different view. In a January 18th interview, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Mansbridge that he thinks that "the evidence is overwhelming" and that it "is just beyond dispute at this point" that Iran's purpose is to develop nuclear weapons. When pressed about Iran's insistence that Iran has no intention to build nuclear weapons, Harper said "I think there is absolutely no doubt they are lying". Harper's claims are all-too-reminiscent of US Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's February, 2003 statement to the UN that, with "facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence", there was no doubt in his mind that Saddam Hussein was working to obtain key components to produce nuclear weapons. That intelligence has since been exposed as lies. In fact, the Iraqi chemical engineer who perpetrated the false intelligence, Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, confessed his lies on British television April 3rd. Also troubling is that Harper cited the International Atomic Energy Commission, but in the March 22nd Guardian, the agency's former director-general, Hans Blix, raised concerns about its recent credibility. The IAEC has been charged with over-reliance on unverified intelligence, and pro-Western bias, since the 2009 arrival of its new Chief, Yukiya Amano.