Posted on 09/25/2009 8:46:27 PM PDT by Saije
On Tuesday evening in New York, top officials of the world nuclear watchdog agency approached two of President Obama’s senior advisers to deliver the news: Iran had just sent a cryptic letter describing a small “pilot” nuclear facility that the country had never before declared.
The Americans were surprised by the letter, but they were angry about what it did not say. American intelligence had come across the hidden tunnel complex years earlier, and the advisers believed the situation was far more ominous than the Iranians were letting on...
Senior intelligence officials said Friday that several years ago American intelligence agencies under the administration of George W. Bush discovered the suspicious site. The site was one of Iran’s most closely guarded secrets, the officials said, known only by senior members of Iran’s nuclear establishment. The officials said that housing the complex on the base gave it an extra layer of security.
Mr. Obama was first told about the existence of the covert site during his transition period in late 2008, White House officials said, after he had been elected but before he was inaugurated. But it was not until earlier this year that American spy agencies detected the movement of sensitive equipment into the facility — a sign, they believed, that whatever work was involved was nearing its final stages...
At some point in late spring, American officials became aware that Iranian operatives had learned that the site was being monitored, the officials said.
As the administration reviewed its Iran policy in April, Mr. Obama told aides... that if the United States entered into talks with Iran, he wanted to make sure “all the facts were on the table early, including information on this site — so that negotiations would be meaningful and transparent,” a senior administration official said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
God help us please! We have an amateur in the executive office.
What has he ever run other than a campaign?
Iran doesn’t need to hide it anymore. Obama has nixed the missile defense systems intended for our friends in Eastern Europe, and Russia and China are dictating U.S. foreign policy in Asia and the Middle East.
No need for secrecy. None at all. The Iranians probably knew we knew and as long as Bush was President they weren’t going to move into the facility, but now that Obama has shown his yellow underbelly, there’s no fear of reprisal amounting to more than a strongly worded “speech”.
Exactly. Good call bump!
>>What has he ever run other than a campaign?<<
His, uh, umm, mouth.
“The Iranians probably knew we knew...”
You’re right, the article doesn’t say when they found it, just when we discovered that they knew we knew. And it could have been through one of our allies or something. It’s amazing to me that Obama knew before he was even inaugurated and yet still persisted with his “hand of friendship” approach.
Notice that the Russians are working with us now.
Wonder if we offered Poland up as a pawn to win favor with Russia.
We are about to lose Afghanistan and Iran is about put the final touches on their weapons program.
Many of these crazed, maniacal, tyrannical regimes operate on long term plans. They’ll build a facility 10 years before they figure they’ll ever be able to use it. It is scary how much forward thinking goes into increasing their military power but how little planning and thought goes into developing their domestic economies and infrastructure.
In the U.S. we are used to our government changing every 2-4 years, and so long term plans on that level suffer through reviews every year and often never make it out of the sandbox phase. If you’re a dictator with a solid hold on power, you increase your power by cultivating your military and undermining your foreign enemies, controlling information, and imposing a strict and diligent police on the populace.
The first lesson of modern history is never trust the Russians further than you can lob a missile at them.
The second lesson is refer to lesson #1, apply to all foreign nations.
Or as we seem to forget all the time, “Nations have interests, not friends.” Any cooperation on the part of Russia has less to do with what Obama may have given them, and has everything to do with what he’s promised them. I wonder what that was.
Calling him an amateur would be giving him some street cred. He is a testosterone lacking, clueless, white guilt ridden elected dunce. An imbecile by even the most generous standards. May GOD protect us from this fool.
The are playing Emperor Obama like a cheap fiddle.
That was the cogent point I took away from this article as well.
“Gee, the Iranians found out this Spring that their secret site was being watched after we managed to keep it secret for 3 years before that?”
Surprise, surprise /sarc
Which fifth columnist in the hopey/changey administration whispered sweet nothings into Imanutjob’s ear?
Paging Deep Throat II.
Obama did not take seriously the American intellegence report he received from Bush until the UN confirmed the information.
Just so happnes the UN was a tad late in voicing it’s “intellegence.” They gave Iran the time they needed to “progress” in their nuke program. Obama was with them on this.
It’s so urgent that our dear leader had nothing better to do last night than pander to the black caucus pitching obamacare. He’s MIA on just about everything but TV cameras.
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