So sayeth U. of Minnesota Prof. William O. Beeman, professor and chair of the department of anthropology at the University of Minnesota and author of The ‘Great Satan’ vs. the ‘Mad Mullahs’: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other. As noted at Campus Watch, Beeman has long urged the U.S to be more propitiatory toward militant Iran, going so far as to encourage the use of “language” toward it that is “unfailingly polite and humble.”
With the recent release of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) downplaying Iran’s “nuclear intentions and capabilities,” Beeman has now pronounced with utmost confidence: “Iran has never had a proven nuclear weapons program. Ever. …the report does not offer a scintilla of evidence that the weapons program was ever an established fact.”
Yet it is Beeman who, in the New American Media article in question, provided not a shred of evidence to back up this naïve assertion.