Once burnt, twice shy

The lead article in today's NY Times is entitled "New Worry Rises on Iranian Claim of Nuclear Steps." It speculates that a statement by President Ahmadinejad last week may indicate that Iran is much closer to having nuclear weapons than the experts had supposed.

I don't know, maybe I'm just too jaded at this point, but there are very few references to the sources of the information in this article. One source that is named, though not till very deep in the article, is Robert Joseph, "the Bush administration's under secretary of state for arms control and international security, who is known as one of the administration's hawks..."

I just have the feeling that the Times has been Judy Millered once again. With the drumbeats of war with Iran sounding ever louder, it's just like this administration to start leaking misleading information to make it sound as though the dangers are great.

Perhaps the article has a solid basis, but I'm not buying it yet.