Diplomats: Iran assembling centrifuges
USA Today
By George Jahn, Associated Press Writer
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-04-03-483908543_x.htm

Summary: Many diplomats have been saying that Iran has created hundreds more uranium enrichment machines called centrifuges to speed the production. Uranium can be produced for fuel for nuclear power or the fissile core in a nuclear warhead. The machines this time are more advanced than before, and people think they could be the advanced IR-2s. One diplomat said that they were not the IR2s, and it was uncertain if they were above or below ground. If they were underground then this would mean that Iran was secretly producing for something that’s most likely the nuclear warhead. Iran says that they are only creating this uranium to experiment but many people do not believe this. Many think something new is definitely new is going on so we have to keep our watch.

A. This article fits the AP world theme of impact of technology, economics, and demography on people and the environment because the people from Iran are using the environment and the land to pumped uranium out of the ground. They are using newer technology like the centrifuges, so it fits this theme perfectly.
B. The foundations for Iran’s nuclear program were laid in 1953. In 1967, the Tehran Nuclear Research Center was established and they were supplied with a 5-megawatt nuclear research reactor which was fueled by enriched uranium by the U.S. Iran which was a U.S. ally then, had close ties with Washington D.C. and European companies scrambled to do business there. In the mid 1970s, Iran had nuclear weapons faster than anyone thought they would. The U.S., France, and Germany were all supposed to aid Iran with uranium and reactors in the early 1980s, but none of them did. Although in 2003 the U.S. told Iran to stop producing uranium which they said they did, enrichment concerns many because it can produce weapons grade uranium for the core of warheads.
C. This article is written by George Jahn, a male who writes in the USA today, so he is from America.
D. There was not much bias in this article because it was mostly factually based. The only was it was a bit in favor of the outside countries was because it made it seem like the author knew that they were still creating underground uranium. I think his way of saying it might make many more people in favor of the countries outside of Iran.
E. To obtain more knowledge and gain a full understanding of the concept, I think that we would need to hear from an Iranian who is pumping this uranium and learn about what they are using their experiments for. Someone from this uranium production system could also talk about why they won’t listen to other countries and stop producing this uranium.
F. I feel that this article is very controversial and poses a deep threat to many countries in the world. Although the Iranians are saying that they are just using the uranium for experiments, they have done things in the past that lead us not to believe this. This also hits us with the threat of if they will give nuclear warheads to other mid-eastern countries with more technology on the issue. I think every country needs to be aware of what’s going on at all times and we should cut down on this underground mass production.