In its editorial on May 31, the Washington Times wrote: Using a neutron initiator by the Iranian regime is not for “peaceful dual-use purpose, but is only used for weapons. It’s the trigger of the atomic smoking gun.”
The paper refuted any similarity and comparison of the mullahs’ regime with the former Iraqi government in 2003 and said: “The comparison is dubious. Saddam never had working nuclear reactors, something the Islamic regime in Tehran openly brags about.
Iraq also never approached Iran’s current missile capabilities. Had Saddam possessed in 2003 what Iran has right now, the George W. Bush administration would never have been dogged by leftist critics like Mr. Hersh with never-ending charges of “intelligence failure.”
Referring to the National Intelligence Estimate about the nuclear status of mullahs’ regime late in Bush administration, the Washington Times wrote: “The 2007 intelligence estimate was roundly criticized when it was released as a heavily politicized document intended to stall Bush administration momentum for dealing with the threat posed by Tehran… The 2011 NIE, which won’t be released in an unclassified version, reportedly walks back the conclusions reached in 2007.”
The paper mentioned the Stuxnet attack against Iranian regime’s nuclear facilites and said: “While cyber-attacks may buy time, they will not dissuade Tehran from its nuclear ambitions. It’s worth remembering that every initial nuclear test in history by an adversary power took the U.S. intelligence community by surprise.”
