Netanyahu's crying wolf on Iran
Gary Sick ■ Israel itself managed to develop a nuclear weapons capability in absolute secrecy in only a few years. It was not alone. South Africa, India, even poor Pakistan with virtually no heavy industrial base, managed to develop nuclear weapons in secret within a decade or so of the decision to launch a determined program. By most accounts, Iran decided to restart its nuclear program -- started under the shah and interrupted by the Iranian revolution -- in the mid-1980s, nearly 30 years ago. ■ This anomaly is almost never mentioned. Iran, endowed with a robust industrial base, exceptional engineering universities, a well-educated population, and a core of Western-trained nuclear scientists, has spent nearly three times as long on its nuclear program as other countries that were far less endowed. It still has no nuclear weapon. Why? One answer may be the consensus of all U.S. intelligence services that the leaders of Iran have not taken a decision to build a bomb. They have openly constructed the nuclear infrastructure that would permit them to do so, but they have not taken a decision. Mr. Netanyahu did not mention that in his TV appearance.