Posted on 10/07/2006 5:33:16 AM PDT by nuconvert
HOW IRAN'S NUKE QUEST BEGAN
Amir Taheri
October 5, 2006 -- IRAN'S President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to vehemently deny the Islamic Republic's desire to develop nuclear weapons. But last week, his rival for power came out with sensational revelations that paint a completely different picture - pointing to the military reasons why Iran revived its nuclear program in 1988.
The rival is businessman/mullah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989-'97 but lost to Ahmadinejad last year. His revelations relate to 1988, when he was speaker of the Majlis (parliament) and also commander-in-chief of the armed forces (acting on behalf of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini). They center on two letters written during the horrible Iran-Iraq War - an exchange between Brig.-Gen. Mohsen Rezai, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Khomeini.
Reza'i, whose forces had just suffered terrible losses from Iraqi chemical attacks, informs Khomeini that, without a range of new weapons, his forces can't achieve the goals set for them - goals that include defeating Saddam Hussein and installing a Khomeinist regime in Baghdad, then proceeding to "liberate" Jerusalem and wipe Israel off the map. He asks for 300 new fighter-bombers, 2,500 tanks, 300 attack helicopters - and laser-guided missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Khomeini's reply endorses Reza'i's analysis and evokes the possibility of ending the war by accepting U.N. Resolution 598 (which Iran had previously rejected as a "Zionist-Crusader" concoction).
In fact, shortly after this exchange, Khomeini announced that he was accepting a cease-fire with Saddam - ending the eight-year war in August 1988.
At the same time, Iran also began seeking a nuclear deterrent. The Iranian Atomic Energy Commission - closed on Khomeini's orders in 1979 - resumed work in October 1988. The next February, Tehran hosted a seminar on nuclear technology -
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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