FROM JAMES BOND COUNTRY – AT 9:10 A.M. ET:  The head of Britain's MI6, the foreign intelligence service, rarely speaks publicly.  When he does, we listen.  This is on Iran, and it is blunt, and clearly is directed toward those who'd like to put Iran on the back burner.  From London's Telegraph: 

MI6 agents have foiled Iran’s attempts to obtain nuclear weapons but the Middle Eastern state will succeed in arming itself within the next two years, the head of the Secret Intelligence Service has warned.

Sir John Sawers said that covert operations by British spies had prevented the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons as early as 2008.

However, the MI6 chief said it was now likely they would achieve their goal by 2014, making a military strike from the US and Israel increasingly likely.

Sir John gave a secret briefing to the Cabinet in March about Iran’s growing military threat but this is the first time his views on the issue have been made public.

It is extremely rare for the head of MI6 to disclose details of operations by the intelligence service.

Sir John made the remarks at a meeting of around 100 senior civil servants in London last week in only his second public speech since he was appointed to the post in 2009.

Speaking at the Civil Service Live event in Olympia he said that Iran was now “two years away” from becoming a “nuclear weapons state”.

He said that “when that moment came” Israel or the United States would have to decide whether to launch a military strike.

“The Iranians are determinedly going down a path to master all aspects of nuclear weapons; all the technologies they need,” he said. “It’s equally clear that Israel and the United States would face huge dangers if Iran were to become a nuclear weapon state.”

COMMENT:  I'm pleased that Sir John emphasized the U.S. as facing huge danger when Iran gets the bomb.   There is an element in intelligence circles that believes only Israel, and perhaps some anti-Iranian Arab states, would be threatened.  But to the Iranians we are the Great Satan, and we have every reason to dread a nuclear weapon in the hands of a fanatical regime.

At the same time, be aware that there's now a major pushback among the usual suspects in the American academic world to convince us that it might actually be a good thing for Iran to have the bomb because it would balance military forces in the region.  Uh, right.  And if only we'd have understood Hitler's frustrations.  And if only we'd have been kinder to Al Qaeda before 9-11.  And if only we'd realized that those Japanese planes over Pearl Harbor were friendly tourists.  I'm so tired of these parlor intellectuals announcing their wisdom about the real world. 

We also learn from Fox that Republicans in Congress are increasingly angered by the administration's lethargic approach to the Iranian nuclear program...especially after  Pentagon report this week laid out starkly Iran's progress in becoming a major military power.  The report said that Iran may have, within three years, a missile capable of striking the United States. 

Have a nice day.

July 13, 2012