CIA FLOATS DUBIOUS EVIDENCE AGAINST IRAN

By Thomas Reutter, SWR Stuttgart, “Report Mainz”

[This article published in: SWR, Stuttgart, January 2006 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web,  http://www.swr.de/nachrichten/-/id=396/nid=396/did=1055842/125ah09/index.html.]


A report of the ARD magazine “Report Mainz” casts a new light on the nuclear dispute with Iran. One link in the chain of evidence of the US government against Teheran’s nuclear program is an Iranian laptop that allegedly contained data for building a nuclear warhead. However a US nuclear weapons expert found no evidence for that in the computer documents.


In the nuclear conflict with Iran, the two main rivals are obviously uncompromising enemies. The Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinedschad insists that the nuclear program is peaceful. “Nuclear energy is our right and we will resist all pressure until this right is realized.” On the other hand, US president George W. Bush sees Teheran’s attempt to develop nuclear weapons in the Iranian nuclear program. For him, “the world cannot allow the Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons.”

“NEW YORK TIMES”: NUCLEAR WEAPONS PLANS IN A LAPTOP

Bush relies on information of the CIA, the US secret service that doubts the peaceful use of Iran’s nuclear program and tries to demonstrate this with all kinds of sources. One of these sources is a mysterious Iranian laptop. The computer with allegedly secret military data fell into the hands of the CIA supposedly in the middle of 2004 “from an Iranian source over many years.” The laptop, the “New York Times” reported in November in an exclusive front-page article, contains studies on the most important elements of a nuclear warhead. The renowned US paper referred to unnamed government officials.

ARTICLE ABOUT IRANIAN LAPTOP CAUSES SENSATION

The report made headlines around the globe eleven days before an important meeting of the governors of the international Nuclear Energy Organization (IAEO). In Germany, the story was told several times with appeals to the “New York Times.” The data is “the strongest evidence” for a secret Iranian nuclear weapon program, it was said.

US EXPERTS: NO REFERENCES TO NUCLEAR WEAPON PLANS

David Albright, director of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in Washington and sharp critic of the Iranian nuclear program, was one of the few scientists who evaluated the contents of the laptop. In an interview with “Report Mainz,” he said: “These documents contain no information about a nuclear weapon or nuclear warhead. The terms `nuclear,’ `nuclear weapon’ and `nuclear warhead’ are never mentioned in the documents.”

“NEW YORK TIMES” REFUSES CORRECTION

Albright regards the report of the “New York Times” as a “misleading error.” The description of Iranian scientists making plans for nuclear warheads is “exaggerated.” Albright who also worked as a UN nuclear weapons inspector and was questioned several times in the US Congress as an expert for nuclear weapons urged the “New York Times” in November 2005 to a “correction.” “I believe you made a serious mistake. The New York Times should correct that.”

The editors made a gesture of refusal. In an e-mail to Albright, the “New York Times” answered: “We only quoted the Bush administration that claimed the Iranian studies showed the long efforts to build a nuclear warhead.”

ALBRIGHT SEES MEDIA CAMPAIGN AGAINST IRAN

Albright assumed that US government circles deliberately floated the falsified report in the “New York Times” to generate political pressure. In view of the disaster with false secret service information on the eve of the Iraq war, the US government is careful and does not want to accuse Iran in public with exaggerated charges. Washington knew the information was untrue, the nuclear weapons expert said. The Bush administration plays the story to the media who provide the exaggerated spin. Then the US government quotes the media.

A GERMAN EXPERT ALSO SEES A CONNECTION

Otfried Nassauer, director of the Berlin Information Center for Transatlantic Security also sees a connection between important IAEO meetings and new accusations against Iran in the media. “Since 2003, since the dispute with Iran became more intense, new suspicions against Iran have been regularly spread through diplomats or the media in the last ten to 14 days before important meetings of the Vienna nuclear boards. This information obviously affects negotiations and the climate.