Because when Cheney talks (even when he’s lying through his teeth), people should listen:
“Obviously, [Iran is] also heavily involved in trying to develop nuclear weapons enrichment, the enrichment of uranium to weapons-grade levels,” Cheney said, according to a transcript released by the White House of an interview done Monday in Turkey with ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
Needless to say, no one has discovered any evidence that Iran is currently enriching uranium to levels necessary to produce bomb grade uranium. Not the IAEA. Not the US intelligence services. Not the Europeans. Not even Israel has claimed it has evidence that Iran is capable of producing, much less has produced, highly enriched uranium suitable for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. But no matter, this is Dick Cheney we’re talking about. A man on a mission from God. The God of War, that is.
The real problem isn’t that Cheney is talking. The real problem is that Bush sent him to the Middle East at this time to make these statements. Based on past history with these two, when Cheney runs his mouth about the threat posed by another country, and when other Bush favorites like General Petraeus, blame Iran for the attacks on Americans in the Green Zone (rather than on the breakdown of the truce with Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army), it all points to an attempt to drum up public support for war. The last time it was war with Iraq. This time the target they wish to attack is Iran. And much like Senator Clinton’s attacks on Senator Obama, they are throwing the “kitchen sink” at their intended target, hoping that something will stick. Cheney has also blamed the failure of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process on Iran, and President Bush has recently stated that Iran’s leadership had declared its intention to develop nuclear weapons “to destroy people,” a demonstrable lie.
But no matter. Say anything, must be their motto regarding Iran. Because you have to repeat your lies frequently if you want to catapult the propaganda.
