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Iran's Nuclear Shopping List

[Wall Street Journal] Editorial - In testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this month that was largely ignored by the media, the legendary Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau opened a window on how Iran is secretly obtaining the ingredients for an arsenal of mass destruction. Morgenthau, whose recent cases have exposed illicit Iranian finance and procurement networks, has discovered what he calls "Iran's shopping list for materials related to weapons of mass destruction." Missile accuracy appears to be a key Iranian goal. In the prosecution of Chinese citizen Li Fang Wei and his LIMMT company for allegedly scamming Manhattan banks to slip past sanctions on Iran, the DA uncovered a list that included 400 sophisticated gyroscopes and 600 accelerometers critical for developing accurate long-range missiles. He also found that Iran was acquiring a rare metal called tantalum, "used in those roadside bombs that are being used against our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan." Morgenthau also noted that the material shipped by LIMMT "included 15,000 kilograms of a specialized aluminum alloy used almost exclusively in long-range missile production; 1,700 kilograms of graphite cylinders used for banned electrical discharge machines which are used in converting uranium," and other items. He added that "we have consulted with top experts in the field from MIT and from private industry and from the CIA....Frankly, some of the people we've consulted are shocked by the sophistication of the equipment they're buying." The least the U.S. administration can do is heed Morgenthau's central point about everything he's learned about Iran's nuclear progress: "It's late in the game, and we don't have a lot of time."
2009-05-22 06:00:00
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