Loose Cannons

Outrageously enriched

"UN inspectors investigating Iran's nuclear program angrily complained to the Bush administration and to a Republican congressman yesterday about a recent House [of Representatives] committee report on Iran's capabilities, calling parts of the document 'outrageous and dishonest'... Among the committee's assertions is that Iran is producing weapons-grade uranium at its facility in the town of Natanz. The [UN's International Atomic Energy Agency] called that 'incorrect', noting that weapons-grade uranium is enriched to a level of 90% or more. Iran has enriched uranium to 3.5% under IAEA monitoring." — Washington Post, September 14.

Deja vu

"This is like prewar Iraq all over again. You have an Iranian nuclear threat that is spun up, using bad information that's cherry-picked and a report that trashes the inspectors." — David Albright, a former nuclear inspector who is president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, commenting September 14 on the US congressional report on Iran.

Outrageously vague

"This debate is occurring because of, umm, the Supreme Court's ruling that said that, uhh, we must conduct ourselves under the Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. And that Common Article 3 says that there, you know, will be no outrages upon human dignity. Uhh, it's, uhh, it's, it's a, like, it's very vague. What does that mean? Outrages upon human dignity. Tha, tha, that's a statement that, uhh, is, is wide open to interpretation." — Emperor George Bush II, September 15, commenting on the congressional debate over his push to legalise the torture of terrorism suspects. Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War prohibits "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment".

From GLW issue 685