On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 22:05:50 -0700, Thelasian wrote:

Rather the US says that Iran's nuclear program gives it the
CAPACITY to build nukes. But ANY nuclear program can be characterized
as that. Brazil has the CAPACITY to build nukes too.

Hi,
Such countries do not have a great amount of fossil fuels. For them
it makes economic sense to build nuclear reactors rather than to import
fossil fuels to build coal, oil or gas fired plants on a large scale. Of
course a nuclear weapons program could be coupled to their civilian
program but at the very least it raises no suspicion at first glance.

What justification is there for eyeran to persue electricity from nuclear
power which comes with a FAR higher economic (and political) opportunity
cost?

It was "pretty obvious" that Iraq had vatloads of anthrax too

That's a straw man argument, lets compare apples to apples.

It was pretty obvious that Saddam intended to build nuclear weapons with
his Osirak reactor. He himself admitted to it. When you see Eyeran,
Saudi Arabia, Venesuela, UAE ..etc building nuclear power plants, it is
for one reason only. And that is the pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The only country that is a major net oil exporter and operates a large
number of nuclear power plants is Russia. Their reasons for
developing their extensive nuclear infrastructure despite the high
economic opportunity cost was for nuclear weapons (that despite their huge
gas and oil reserves). Electricity was treated as a byproduct by the USSR
until the country went bust.

Now here's a question for you :

Can you honestly say that Eyeran has no military intent whatsoever
attached to its nuclear program? Can you honestly say the sole purpose of
its nuclear program which is being pursued at great economic & political
cost is only for generating electricity and nothing more?

I'm not asking you to produce mounds of documents, denials or claims. A
simple yes or no answer will do.