While Bush may claim that this week was the the first time he was informed about the National Intelligence Estimate stating that Iran hasn’t had a functional nuclear weapons programs since 2003, Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post points out that a clear shift in the President’s rhetoric on Iran’s nuclear program took place in early August.
A survey of Bush’s remarks about Iran’s nuclear ambitions in 2007 suggests that a shift took place somewhere between August 6 and August 9. There wasn’t a change in his overall message, just his carefully chosen words.
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On June 19, Bush spoke of “consequences to the Iranian government if they continue to pursue a nuclear weapon, such as financial sanctions, or economic sanctions. . . .
“Now, whether or not they abandon their nuclear weapons program, we’ll see.”
On July 12: “[T]he same regime in Iran that is pursuing nuclear weapons and threatening to wipe Israel off the map is also providing sophisticated IEDs to extremists in Iraq who are using them to kill American soldiers.”
On Aug. 6 he said “it’s up to Iran to prove to the world that they’re a stabilizing force as opposed to a destabilizing force. After all, this is a government that has proclaimed its desire to build a nuclear weapon.”
From that point on, he started choosing his words more carefully.
Here he is on Aug. 9: “They have expressed their desire to be able to enrich uranium, which we believe is a step toward having a nuclear weapons program. That, in itself, coupled with their stated foreign policy, is very dangerous for world stability. . . . It’s a very troubling nation right now.”
Here he is on Aug. 28: “Iran’s active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust. We seek an Iran whose government is accountable to its people — instead of to leaders who promote terror and pursue the technology that could be used to develop nuclear weapons.”
Keith Olbermann has a Special Comment on the same subject.
Despite Bush’s change in language, his new knowledge didn’t prevent him from evoking World War III or Cheney from warning “The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences… We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
At the same time, John McCain was singing “Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran” and Mike Huckabee was opining “I think the President’s right with trying to bankrupt them before we bomb them. That’s a good way to start.”
All of these people are either at the height of the Executive Office or aspiring to be. Their judgment is bankrupt and corrupt, and it endangers us all. I only wish the Daily Show was being produced so that we could at least have a laugh at it.