IAEA and the House Intelligence Committee

There was something strangely familiar today when the IAEA strongly disagreed with the report of the House Intelligence committee on the state of Iran's nuclear program. Basically the IAEA says Iran isn't nearly as far along as the House committee thinks it is.

I remember this one. Remember when we were "poo poo-ing" Germany for saying things like "I just don't see the evidence for WMD in Iraq." I remember what I thought at the time: "Of course there are WMD in Iraq." We made fun of the Germans and especially the French. Now, mind you, maybe the French did have personal interests in Iraq that made them less than objective. But what no one seems to remember--and what you will never hear on Fox News--is that the French, Germans, and Russians were right!

Sure the Russians and French may have had ulterior motives, but their arguments against us that we had not made the case for WMD turned out to be right!!!! We should really be sheepishly embarrassed for not having listened to them. But we've conveniently forgotten how this all came down.

Bush barrelled ahead--he was like the child that ignores the parent's advice thinking it will all turn out okay. And then it doesn't. It messes up just like the parent told the child it might. That's what happened in Iraq and we're too forgetful to remember that all their predictions came true!!!

But this post was meant to be about Iran. Once again, I am asked to make a choice on who I will trust. I trusted Bush last time over Europe and the UN, and it turned out that I made the wrong decision. So I am not going to trust the House intelligence committee this time on Iran. Could the IAEA be lying to try to keep the US from doing something rash again? Sure. But fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You're going to have to over prove something like this to me this time. You've blown the trust factor.

This is a big problem for the Bush administration with people like me. All along they have asked us to trust them. Take the spying on us and the secret prisons and Guantanamo. They ask us to trust them to do the right thing. If we tell you everything we're doing, it will compromise American security. Maybe. But you've long since lost my trust.