Bad news for the U.S. war effort. Of course by "war effort" I mean the U.S. effort to conduct another war—this time with Iran. For a group that doesn't seem to have a clue as to how to win a war, you would think the Bush administration might try something else, such as diplomacy. But I suppose that would expose them to vulnerabilities on two fronts, since most Americans don't yet realize that they're equally bad at diplomacy.

In any case the U.S. has been charging that Iran has been trying to produce highly enriched uranium that could be used in nuclear weapons or—to put it in a way that's more familiar—that Iran is trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. Iran has consistently denied the charge, though traces of the uranium had been found on Iranian centrifuges in 2003.

Now the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has tested those traces and found they were produced elsewhere. According to the Washington Post,

U.N. nuclear agency tests have concluded that traces of highly enriched uranium on centrifuge parts were from imported equipment rather than from any enrichment activities by Iran, a senior Western diplomat said. The findings support Iran's claims that the material entered the country with centrifuge parts provided by Pakistan. The diplomat who confirmed the results spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

The White House has declined to comment while they try to think of something else.

Related posts
The Butler Report and "AQ Khan" (7/16/04)