Iran seeking nuclear bomb "booster," say exiles

[DemsUnite]

Iranian agents have tried to obtain from South Korea a substance that can be used to boost nuclear explosions in atomic weapons, an Iranian exile group said on Thursday.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which has in the past provided accurate information on hidden Iranian nuclear activities, said Tehran had used front companies to obtain the substance, a hydrogen isotope known as tritium.

"The regime has tried to smuggle it in from South Korea," said Ali Safavi, a senior NCRI official, told a news conference in Brussels, citing what he called high-placed unnamed sources in the Iranian leadership.

more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050825/ts_nm/nuclear_iran_opposition_dc;_ylt=AlERRD69voWsPZwpLwE1uras0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

[asjr]

1. Do the Iranian exiles have their own personal Chalabi?

[tanyev]

3. And Curveball?

[acmejack]

4. Their spokesman probably is Chalabi!

Curveballs away! Or is this one "Screwball", "Change-up", or perhaps "Split Tongue Fastball"?

[William Bloode]

19. hehehehe....

The exact samething i thought when i saw the subject line of this thread.

[PassingFair]

28. I spoke with some Ba'hai faithful about a year ago...

and they were definitely Chalabi-like regarding Bush's plans.
All for the invasion of Iraq.
I told them, be careful what you wish for. *Co. does NOT keep its word, and nothing good will come of this.
Now Iraq's staring down the barrel of an Islamic Fundamentalist Theocracy.
Yeah, now we'll invade Iran and spread "freedom" there, too.
The Ba'hai better run back into their priestholes NOW.

[unfrigginreal]

2. NCRI taking a page from the Chalabi book

They're sure to get the right wing Neokooks clamouring for war.

[sasha031]

6. War drums are pounding

If this country does anything to Iran, I suspect it is all over for all of us. China and Russia are now in love, they are looking out for Iran. It wouldn't be difficult, we are in debt up to our eyeballs, all China has to do is call in their bonds.Everyone is armed to the teeth. It scares the heck out of me.

[StrafingMoose]

7. Exactly...

China owns a sh**load of US Treasure, as well as South Korea who recently told the USA "Backoff, we know the North won't nuke _us_"

China and Russia WON'T let the USA get Iran's much needed oil this time. If they didn't do anything for Iraq, that's probably because there was a deal under the table.

[Tesha]

16. Given how it's working out, why *SHOULD* Russia or China have done...

Given how it's working out, why *SHOULD* Russia or China have done
anything to stop us from/about us invading Iraq? Aren't we punishing
ourselves sufficiently?

Tesha

[StrafingMoose]

21. Of course USA is...

in trouble domesticaly speaking, but if they get ahold of Iraqi oil -- "Mission accomplished" (not the one in may 2003 pronounced by Bush on the aircraft carrier :P)

Neocons are about global dominance and America's primacy, getting your hand on as much oil will give a lever to strangle one's economy. The Russians and Chinese must know that too.

[Up2Late]

24. Iraq was literally a "Hostile Take-over" of the Iraqi Oil fields...

...in every sense of the words.

You wrote: "...If they didn't do anything for Iraq, that's probably because there was a deal under the table."

That's not quite right, It wasn't "under the table," Russia, France, and I think China too, DID have signed Oil Contracts with Iraq before the U.S. Invasion, but the invasion (and the looting after the fall of Baghdad) made all those contracts go away.

Nice huh?

[StrafingMoose]

27. I know that..

but you described the situation before the invasion. Russia and Europe opposed it because of contracts with Iraq. ( http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030314-095811-8865r ) I'm describing the situation after the invasion. If China & Russia aren't sending covert help to fight the Coalition invasion, it may be because they're getting reassurance by back channels that they will get a piece of the pie (of course, they might be bullshitted)... Or, it may also be because they think most certainly that USA will plainly fail...

[IndianaGreen]

26. Same play, different cast!

Same lies, different exiles!

I don't believe a word I hear about nukes and Iran. Even if true, who cares? Iran has the right to take whatever measures are necessary to defeat US aggression.

[jsamuel]

5. It is obvious that these people are "Resistant to Iran" and will say anyth

ing

Not to mention, WHAT GOOD IS NUCLEAR WEAPONS "BOOSTER" WITHOUT A NUCLEAR WEAPON!

[fbahrami]

18. While most Iranians do Not support the "Islamic Republic"

(I'm talking about people in Iran who complain constantly and fairly openly of the economic hardship and lack of political and personal freedoms)

Most would never again trust the Mujahedin-e Khalgh either.

Why?

1) The organization turned into an autocracy with Massoud Rajavi and then his wife, Maryam taking charge as "leader".

2) The organization fled to Iraq and supported Saddam during the 8-year war. Those who joined the Mujahedin "cult" were lost forever to their families.

3) People still remember the youngsters who were executed by IRI for distributing Mujaheddin literature (i.e. why would a credible organization throw young lives away like that?)

4) Their ideological blend of what the Shah would call "Islamic Marxists" (!) has enough Islam in it to turn off those opposed to the "Islamic" regime.

Just a bit of history for y'all.

[oneighty]

8. United States has not produced Tritium since 1988

so says Google. The last I heard the US buys Tritium from Canada. Perhaps other countries might do that also.

Free trade and all that you know.

180

[Up2Late]

9. This is the same "Curveball" group that said Iran is building...

...secret nuclear components last Friday. This is just another BS group trying to get us to attack and over-through the Government of Iran for them.

Here's last weeks article:

Iran is building secret nuclear components, says rebel group

Ian Traynor
Friday August 19, 2005
The Guardian

Iranian opposition activists said yesterday that Tehran was rushing to build nuclear components in breach of its commitments to the UN.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political wing of the outlawed Mujahideen-e-Khalq guerrilla movement, which is classified as a terrorist organisation in Europe and the US, said the Iranian authorities were covertly building and concealing thousands of centrifuge rigs used to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel or weapons.

The NCRI regularly makes claims about Iran's nuclear operations which are impossible to corroborate.

But three years ago it was the first to disclose secret Iranian centrifuge operations in Natanz. Those allegations turned out to be largely true and triggered the international crisis over Iran's nuclear activities that has been running for two years.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1552183,00.html?gusrc=rss>
(more at link above)

[anotherdrew]

10. How would they know?

not a very good smuggling job at least

[Ganja Ninja]

11. Tritium is what make an Atomic Bomb a Nuclear Bomb.

Nuclear = Fusion

Atomic = Fission

[jsamuel]

12. yep, essential plot point in Spider Man 2

[Tesha]

17. It's also used as a "Booster" in ordinary fission bombs.

The big deal in fission bombs is getting a the reaction to run as far
as it can before the bomb "disassembles" itself. You do this by getting
as many free neutrons as possible to stay in the core/be present in the
core therey causing more U235 nuclei to fission.

You can do that with a neutron reflector, but that's relatively
inefficient. Adding tritium works better; it undergoes a relatively
low-intensity fusion reaction but in the process, it cranks out lots
of free neutrons which "boost" the main fission reaction.

Most of our small nukes are tritium-boosted fission bombs.

Tesha

[sofa king]

13. No question Iran wants tritium--and nukes.

Just take a moment to look at things from the Iranian perspective.

Fifty-two years ago this month, Kermit Roosevelt and Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr. overthrew the Mossadegh government in Tehran. That led to the installation and propping of the Shah, and probably more importantly, the creation SAVAK, of one of the more bloody and corrupt domestic intelligence agencies to emerge in the Cold War era. The Shah lasted exactly as long as the CIA was allowed to support him, and scarcely a second longer.

Now, the same country which took democracy away from the Iranians has invaded their neighbor under false pretenses and is busy pouring concrete into over a dozen very permanent bases, an obvious potential springboard for the invasion of Iran itself.

Iran has no reliable conventional response to the advance of an American armored division. Right now, Iran is as vulnerable to invasion as Belgium was in 1914, only nobody is going to guarantee Iran's safety or sovereignty except the Iranians themselves. And, since we've already proven ourselves willing to break our own laws, defy the international community, and otherwise act deceitfully and irresponsibly on the international stage, there is nothing the United States can say which will change their opinion.

But one well-placed nuclear weapon can destroy the spearhead of an invading division, can block mountain passes and otherwise delay an advance, deny territory and provide a very strong deterrent to any (well, the only) potential invader.

I'll bet that to globally and politically aware Iranians, a nuclear weapon is the one silver bullet which will secure the safety of the Iranian government.

[hunter]

14. Hmmmm. Have they tried ebay?

Oh, please, make it stop, this spew of hot diarrehea from the flaming assholes of the Bush Administration... we are drowning in it.

[maxrandb]

15. Well, Like the Pretzledent Said

"Fool me once,..er..um...<stammer>..uh..<blank stare>...Won't Get Fooled Again"

[progressivebydesign]

20. Are they pulling nuclear babies out of incubaters?? n/t

[Minstrel Boy]

23. Yes, and then straight into the plastic people shredder n/t

[Gman]

22. This is a story planted by the US government

just like the ones planted before the Iraq invasion. They're building up to a war debate before the elections next year, just like Iraq. Chalabi's group was the exile group of choice before the Iraq invasion. Looks like they have another one now for Iran.

[sofa king]

25. Wouldn't surprise me

After all, where did all those SAVAK operatives and outspoken monarchists go once the Shah was deposed?

I don't know the story that well, so I can't say for sure, but in Iraq and East Germany when the country fell over, many of the domestic intelligence goons just disappeared into the general population.

Iran, however, has quite a bone to pick with SAVAK, and I'm pretty sure it's very unhealthy to be living in Iran as a known former agent. So I'll bet a whole helluva lot of them have gone... elsewhere.

If we do trump up another war against these guys, it's worth noting the huge difference there's gonna be between invading Iraq and invading Iran.

The Iraqis probably disliked America a lot prior to our invasion, but Saddam Hussein was no warm and fuzzy kitten, either.

But the Iranians fucking HATE us, and not without reason. We overthrew their democratic government, installed a king, funded and trained a repression arm of government comparable to the Gestapo which killed and tortured thousands of people, and vampirically extracted the country's main natural resource, oil, at fire-sale prices which the Iranian people never saw anyway. To most Iranians alive today, "freedom" probably means what they've experienced in the twenty-five years since the American-backed government of the Shah was overthrown.

Can you imagine what those people would do if we dared to come back again?

[PassingFair]

29. Are you talking about these guys?

http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/2294-2323_Chekov's_Enterprise/graphics/Saavik.jpg

Who knows where they went......