Bush is working the phone

Slitsom tid for mr. President og Condi, de må nemlig holde kontakt med alle sine allierte.

Pressekonferanse gjennomført av USAs kjære Bush, som blant annet dreide seg om National Intelligence Estimate som sier at Iran har stanset sitt atomprogram. Det er ikke særlig gode nyheter for en som ser viktigheten av å ha litt kontroll over ressursene hans land er avhengig av.

Men hva har så presidenten å si om rapportens innhold?

Here’s what we know. We know that they’re still trying to learn how to enrich uranium. We know that enriching uranium is an important step in a country who wants to develop a weapon. We know they had a program. We know the program is halted.

Om det beste diplomati:

You know, the NIE also said that such pressure was effective, and that’s what our government has been explaining to other partners in keeping the international pressure on Iran. The best diplomacy, effective diplomacy, is one of which all options are on the table.

Det hadde vært veldig enkelt om man kunne vært sin egen definisjonsmakt.

Og så kommer min favorittbit. Et spørsmål til presidenten lyder som følger:

Q Mr. President, thank you. Just to follow, I understand what you’re saying about when you were informed about the NIE. Are you saying at no point while the rhetoric was escalating, as “World War III” was making it into conversation, at no point nobody from your intelligence team or your administration was saying, maybe you want to back it down a little bit?

Og hvilket annet svar kan man forvente enn dette.

No, nobody ever told me that. Having said — having laid that out, I still feel strongly that Iran is a danger. Nothing has changed in this NIE that says, okay, why don’t we just stop worrying about it. Quite the contrary. I think the NIE makes it clear that Iran needs to be taken seriously as a threat to peace. My opinion hasn’t changed.

Ojojoj.