Sindawe:
I can see where you are coming from, especially with regard to wanting evidence that Iran is seeking nukes.
I would ask that you apply two things to the question: the "sniff test" and taking what the Iranians say seriously.
Sniff Test
The mullahs say that they have the same right as anybody else to produce energy, be it nuclear or what. Now, why the heck would they want to boil water in the most expensive way known to man (nuclear fission) when they can boil it with an oil-fired plant or a natural gas fired plant...both of which are cheapcheapcheap in Iran? (BTW, water is boiled so that steam turbines can produce electricity.) Both oil and fissionable materials are stores of energy. A BTU is a BTU as far as the water cares. It shouldn't matter where the BTU comes from...unless you want to also be able to unleash those BTUs in the most explosive and destructive way posible. Then nukes are what you want.
Iran importing a nuclear program makes as much sense as Iowa importing corn from Holland or Texas importing beef from Nigeria.
Taking What Dictators Say Seriously
Ever since I was a kid and learned that Adolf Hitler actually wrote down and published his objectives for all to read, I have wondered why we don't take the hostile utterings of dictators seriously. Most come right out and say, "I want to rule over a larger area and will kill any and all who oppose me. I'll also indisciminately kill neutral parties, to scare them into submissiveness." They then go out and do those things they told us they would.
And the UN is shocked, (shocked!!) to discover that the psychopath dictator from Lower Slabbovia is warring on his neighbor to restore a "Greater Slobbovia." Who would have known he was going to do THAT?!?! I mean, yes, he said he would, but we expected that the hardened "realists" from the French and Belgian foreign ministries could head his machete-weilding supporters off at the faux pas.
In the case of the mullahs in Iran, their stated objective is worldwide Islamic government. They openly support and foster terrorist movements around the world and openly declare their hatred for and desire to destroy both the Greater and Lesser Satans (USA & Israel). Also, their new president (a terrorist who directed the seizure of hte American embassy in Iran in 1979) has stated Iran's desire for nuclear power. In the mddle of the world's largest known oil reserves, lest we forget.
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Maybe we could not prove in an American court beyond a reasonable doubt that Iran is persuing nuclear weapons. While it might be nice, relations between states are not governed by American court procedure. The reality of relations between states is more akin to the law of the jungle the William Blackstome's Commentaries on the Laws of England. Waiting to pressure Iran until we can obtain such proof is a recipie for inaction and will lead to our being blackmailed the way the Norks are currently doing.
