Drop the Q, Add an N

From the here we go again files...

via Billmon...

Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says

   Iran, defying United Nations Security Council demands to halt its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days, a U.S. State Department official said.

    Bloomberg News

    Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days

    April 12, 2006

My own highly placed sources in the intelligence community tell me this report is based on the debriefing of an Iranian defector codenamed "Spitball." But that's classified, so don't tell anyone except Judy Miller.

Are we really going to be using the exact same playbook?

Hey, why not.  It worked just dandy the last time.

So how did they come up with this estimate?

Iran will move to ``industrial scale'' uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at its Natanz plant, the Associated Press quoted deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi as telling state-run television today.

``Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days,'' Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters today in Moscow.

Journalists, what would we do without them?

Notice how there is no date as to when they will move to the 54,000 centrifuge configuration.  But somehow, we have a headline that would lead one to believe Iran is 16 days away from having a nuclear bomb, RIGHT NOW.

Ahh...truthiness at its finest.

Hey, while they are at it, why not throw a few more numbers out there to see if they stick...

Rademaker said the technology to enrich uranium to a low level could also be used to make weapons-grade uranium, saying that it would take a little over 13 years to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon with the 164 centrifuges currently in use.

So now it is 13 years...big difference huh?  16 days, 13 years.  What's 12 years, 349 days between friends?

One would think that would be enough from this esteemed journalist, but low and behold, another magical estimate appears even deeper in the story...

Iran has informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to construct 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz next year, Rademaker said.

``We calculate that a 3,000-machine cascade could produce enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon within 271 days,'' he said.

You mean the same Natanz you used to come up with the headline number of 16 days?  The same one used to write the nonsensical headline!!!!

Ok...that is it.  My head officially hurts...

Does Bloomberg have an ombudsmen?

Let's be clear.  New product season is on the way in September.  An Iran Resolution of some sort will be on the table in the House and Senate before the mid-terms.  

And this is just the warm-up...

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that we are really in for a doozy come this fall and the only question is how obedient the media will be this time around.  Your guess is as good as mine.

I know you have read it before, but this quote remains as scary as ever.  

Goering: Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or

a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.

Goering: Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

--- Hermann Goering, made privately to Gustave Gilbert, during the course of the Nuremburg Trials

Will the United States of America be the first country to break the mold?