Now that Bush's Iran War planning is out in the open, it's time for the progressive blogosphere to rebut Bush's Iran lies in real time. I'm no expert so I'll need your help, but most of what we need to know is in the public sphere. Iran Lie #1 comes from Bloomberg:

Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days, U.S. Says

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, which is defying United Nations Security Council demands to cease its nuclear program, may be capable of making a nuclear bomb within 16 days if it goes ahead with plans to install thousands of centrifuges at its Natanz plant, a U.S. State Department official said.

"Natanz was constructed to house 50,000 centrifuges,'' Stephen Rademaker, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, told reporters today in Moscow. "Using those 50,000 centrifuges they could produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon in 16 days.''

In fact, Iran will move forward to "industrial scale'' uranium enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges at Natanz, the Associated Press quoted deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi as telling state-run television today.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday the country had succeeded in enriching uranium on a small scale for the first time, using 164 centrifuges. That announcement defies demands by the UN Security Council that Iran shut down its nuclear program this month.

The U.S. and other countries fear Iran is pursuing a nuclear program to make weapons, while Iran says it is intent on purely civilian purposes, to provide energy. Saeedi said 54,000 centrifuges will be able to enrich uranium to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawat nuclear power plant similar to the one Russia is finishing in southern Iran, AP reported.

"It was a deeply disappointing announcement,'' Rademaker said of Ahmadinejad's statement.

Weapons-Grade Uranium

Rademaker said the technology to enrich uranium to a low level could also be used to make weapons-grade uranium, saying that it would take a little over 13 years to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon with the 164 centrifuges currently in use. The process involves placing uranium hexafluoride gas in a series of rotating drums or cylinders known as centrifuges that run at high speeds to extract weapons grade uranium.

Iran has informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency that it plans to construct 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz next year, Rademaker said.

"We calculate that a 3,000-machine cascade could produce enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon within 271 days,'' he said.

While the U.S. has concerns over Iran's nuclear program, Rademaker said "there certainly has been no decision on the part of my government" to use force if Iran refuses to obey the UN Security Council demand that it shuts down its nuclear program.

Rademaker is in Moscow for a meeting of his counterparts from the Group of Eight wealthy industrialized countries. Russia chairs the G-8 this year.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Sebastian Alison in Moscow at  Salison1@bloomberg.net

So how many lies can we find in this article?

1. "Iran Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days"

Perhaps (I haven't seen the calculations), but only if Iran had 54,000 centrifuges. Right now, Iran has 164 centrifuges. Think Progress says:

Assuming Iran has perfect luck with the centrifuge, it would need to operate this cascade continually for more than five years to produce enough HEU (15-20 kg, roughly the size of a basketball) for a crude nuclear bomb.

So it would be equally accurate to say, "Micronesia Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days" - if it had 54,000 centrifuges. Or to say, "Paris Hilton Could Produce Nuclear Bomb in 16 Days" - if she had 54,000 centrifuges. Micronesia doesn't. Paris Hilton doesn't. Iran doesn't either.

2. "We calculate that a 3,000-machine cascade could produce enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon within 271 days."

Now we're getting closer to reality: Iran plans to build 3,000 centrifuges in the coming year, but they will not be operational until 2009 at the earliest (courtesy of ThinkProgress).

To create enough uranium for a bomb, Iran would have to use its 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium to weapons-grade (typically 85% U235). But Iran only plans to enrich its uranium to reactor-grade (3-5%). This enrichment will be under IAEA supervision under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Iran signed in 1970 and has never violated.

So who's telling these lies? Josh Marshall explains:

Now, I'm pretty new to this issue. But even I can spot that Stephen Rademaker works for Robert Joseph. And that's the same Bob Joseph who was charged with muscling the CIA into letting President Bush use the Niger bamboozle in the 2003 State of the Union address. And he actually managed to get it done, even after the Alan Foley and others at the CIA told him repeatedly they didn't think it was true. So he certainly speaks with a lot of credibility on this issue.

Not!