Dictator Watch: Wait, Ahmedinejad Lies?

Charlie Rose interviewed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September 2007. Ahmedinejad had some very clear things to say about nuclear weapons and Iran.  Some very positive things, enough to warm the heart of any naive or apologist liberal.

And today? From IBD:

Even as Obama spoke, the nuclear genie was leaving the bottle. Iran's state radio on Wednesday announced that its Bushehr nuclear plant, built illicitly with Russian help, is now "operational." This is a first for Iran — and a watershed in its bid to gain nuclear weapons.

Though its oil reserves are the third largest on Earth, Iran insists it needs Bushehr to generate energy. Maybe so. But color us skeptical. It won't be long before Iran ascends the nuclear learning curve and builds a weapon.

That's just an opinion, but IBD isn't alone and the opinion is in no way a stretch.  There's stuff going on, and it involves China.

China’s ongoing and increasing role in aiding Iranian efforts to acquire nuclear weapons was cited in a disturbing new UN report. While the UN report centered on Iranian and North Korean efforts to regularly ship each other “prohibited ballistic missile related items,” it also designated China as the “transit hub” for these illegal shipments.

Unfortunately, news of China’s duplicity comes at a time when Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant is said to be only weeks away from operating at full capacity. While Iran has claimed the Bushehr power plant to be solely dedicated to its civil nuclear energy program, the United States and its allies have long suspected this plant to be a venue to develop nuclear weapons. 

While the Chinese were reportedly displeased by the UN report, that view may have been due more to its inability to block the report’s release than by any finding that it had engaged in illicit activity. In either case, the news that China is providing assistance to Iran’s quest to develop a nuclear weapons program comes as little surprise.

As far back as 2010, a Pentagon review had specifically determined the Chinese to be assisting the Iranians in the development and expansion of its nuclear missile program.

And they are spying on the watchdogs too.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog is investigating whether Iranian officials hacked into computers and mobile telephones left unattended by inspectors monitoring Iran's nuclear sites, diplomats say.

The suspected security breaches could further complicate exhaustive efforts by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to determine whether Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability under the guise of its civilian programme.

The agency's inspectors are understood to have reported unexplained incidents following site visits to Iranian nuclear facilities earlier this year, suggesting that unguarded mobile phones and laptops may have been tampered with, news agencies cited unnamed diplomats as saying.

One Vienna-based diplomat was quoted by Reuters as saying the suspicions, if true, would be "a dramatic and troubling indication of Iranian disdain for its obligation to co-operate with the IAEA".

This Ahmedinejad guy doesn't seem to be on the up and up. I'm just saying.