Washington May Soon Try to Pin the Venezuelan Uranium Tail on the Iranian Nuclear Donkey

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Much to do about Nothing
Yet all of these theories concerning some diabolic plot linking Iran to Hugo Chávez have been entirely based on a handful of anemic charges coming from several former Chávez officials, who, at best, merely quote each other, but fail to advance the core of their charge or provide minimum evidence that Venezuela somehow has been complicit with Iran when it came to supplying uranium to the latter. In turn, their diaphanous allegations are now being picked up by kindred rightwing sources domiciled in the U.S. who write enraged op-eds in Rev. Moon’s Washington Times (“Showdown with Chávez”) or get like-minded congressional colleagues to make rabid speeches from the floor of congress accusing Chávez of striving to hatch a nuclear plot with Tehran or some other threatening complot.

While the rumors sometimes involve an alleged Israeli intelligence report which speaks of covert uranium mining in Venezuela, the so-called findings have never been seen, let alone validated. In fact, while Venezuela may possess some yet to be established uranium deposits, there is no evidence that these have been located, let alone worked. Venezuelan officials have vehemently denied charges that the country is facilitating the enrichment of uranium by the Iranians, and even the State Department has minimized such suggestions, noting that while it is “aware of reports of possible Iranian exploitation of Venezuelan uranium,” it does not see any “commercial uranium activities in Venezuela.” Furthermore, the speculated ties overlook the fact that Iran does not particularly need to import uranium all the way from Venezuela for its projects, as it has ample supplies of its own.

All of this likely matters little to the Bush administration, which is likely feeling increased pressure from its own policy hardliners to take an anti-Chávez stand. The recent Bolivian gas nationalization has been cited by extra conservative pundits, whose knowledge of Latin America is barely enough for them to cite Venezuela’s capital city as evidence of the pernicious spread of Chavista influence. They also derisively point to the lack of any U.S. response to this challenge. Such militancy on their part, combined with Washington’s growing tension with Iran, may make the time ripe for some form of diplomatic or even a retaliatory response to allegations of Venezuela’s special relationship with Tehran and other manifestations of anti-U.S. behavior. Such a step by Washington would be entirely predicated on rumors, inventions, and conjecture – a script, at this point at least, entirely based on phony or no evidence – like the spurious yellowcake of Niger which provided the basis for U.S. intervention in Iraq. By conceivably tying Chávez into the Iranian crisis, the Bush administration possibly could be laying the groundwork for its own dirty tricks campaign. Yet the world would be well-advised to be wary of such machinations: mysterious vials, contrived satellite images, or fuzzy photographs are now beginning to be employed for tendentiously-pursued, if illusory, ends by a brigade of Chávez-bashers serving under a variety of self-serving ideological gods.
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