With all of the real problems in the world today, why does Obama keep going back to Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons program to show he’s “tough”?

Dr. Cole covers much of the controversy today and yesterday. Sean Paul adds the perspective of someone who has actually talked to Iranians about the issue.

I would add that Iran has no reason to believe anything the US or the West has to say on the nuclear issue. They already know that the US has pushed forged evidence on their nuclear program, and aid to Iraqi insurgents. They know that the US and the West unilaterally abrogated contracts with Iran, and kept Iranian payments for supplies and equipment that were never delivered. The West has no credibility with the Iranian government on this issue.

Iran continues to act within the confines of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. They don’t think, they know they are being attacked for taking actions that the treaty permits. The US intelligence community assessment is that there is no weapons program in Iran.

It is also useful to remember that Iran is now a regional power because of the Shrubbery’s unprovoked attack on Iraq after pushing the Taliban out of power in Afghanistan. US has once again failed to think things through and must deal with problems of its own creation.

Update at 10PM CST. Hans Gatt arrived at Dawson at 6:02PM [race time], putting him on track to receive 4 ounces of gold if he finishes. He now has a 36-hour mandatory stop. This year’s race is on track to break the record… but – the weather that has made teams so fast is not good when you are running on a river that should be frozen solid. This is a real problem for the teams in the back, as the passage of the leaders may crack the ice. Any one of the four leaders could receive the four ounces of gold for being the first into Dawson, but the race will probably get a bit strange after Dawson, and you can expect people to turn off the GPS tracking, so the competition can’t find out what’s going on.

At Dawson
1 Hans Gatt (13)

Beyond Eagle
2 Zack Steer (2)
3 Lance Mackey (11)
4 Hugh Neff (23)
5 Ken Anderson (17)
6 Sonny Linder (20)
7 Gerry Willomitzer (5)
8 Abbie West (1)^R
9 Brent Sass (12)
10 Joshua Cadzow (21)^R
11 Normand Casavant (10)
12 David Dalton (3)
13 Sam Deltour (4)^R
14 Kelley Griffin (15)
15 Dries Jacobs (22)^R
16 Mike Ellis (18)
17 Pierre-Antoine Heritier (19)^R

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