[Texgreen] Bushies trying whip up hysteria on WMD in Iran

[Roger Baker]

<http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060914/ts_nm/nuclear_iran_usa_dc_1>

IAEA protests "erroneous" U.S. report on Iran

By Mark Heinrich

Thu Sep 14, 5:51 AM ET

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors have protested to the U.S.  
government and a Congressional committee about a report on Iran's  
nuclear work, calling parts of it "outrageous and dishonest,"  
according to a letter obtained by Reuters.

The letter recalled clashes between the IAEA and the Bush  
administration before the 2003

Iraq war over findings cited by Washington about Iraqi weapons of  
mass destruction that proved false, and underlined continued tensions  
over Iran's dossier.

Sent to the head of the House of Representatives' Select Committee on  
Intelligence by a senior aide to International Atomic Energy Agency  
chief Mohamed ElBaradei, the letter said an August 23 committee  
report contained serious distortions of IAEA findings on Iran's  
activity.

The letter said the errors suggested Iran's nuclear fuel program was  
much more advanced than a series of IAEA reports and Washington's own  
intelligence assessments have determined.

It said the report falsely described Iran to have enriched uranium at  
its pilot centrifuge plant to weapons-grade level in April, whereas  
IAEA inspectors had made clear Iran had enriched only to a low level  
usable for nuclear power reactor fuel.

"Furthermore, the IAEA Secretariat takes strong exception to the  
incorrect and misleading assertion" that the IAEA opted to remove a  
senior safeguards inspector for supposedly concluding the purpose of  
Iran's program was to build weapons, it said.

The letter said the congressional report contained "an outrageous and  
dishonest suggestion" that the inspector was dumped for having not  
adhered to an alleged IAEA policy barring its "officials from telling  
the whole truth" about Iran.

Diplomats say the inspector remains IAEA Iran section head.

The IAEA has been inspecting Iran's nuclear program since 2003.  
Although it has found no hard evidence that Iran is working on atomic  
weapons, it has uncovered many previously concealed activities linked  
to uranium enrichment, a process of purifying fuel for nuclear power  
plants or weapons.

IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: "We felt obliged to put the  
record straight with regard to the facts on what we have reported on  
Iran. It's a matter of the integrity of the IAEA."

Diplomats say Washington, spearheading efforts to isolate Iran with  
sanctions over its nuclear work, has long perceived ElBaradei to be  
"soft" on Tehran.

"This (committee report) is deja vu of the pre-Iraq war period where  
the facts are being maligned and attempts are being made to ruin the  
integrity of IAEA inspectors," said a Western diplomat familiar with  
the agency and IAEA-U.S. relations.