https://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/10/13/armageddon-revisited/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 08:26:17 -0400<![CDATA[In 2007 Think Progress happily announced that &#8220;a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) released today concludes with &#8216;high confidence&#8217; that &#8216;in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.'&#8221;  But in 2009 Barack Obama announced to the world that Iran had been secretly operating a nuclear enrichment plant.  What a difference two years makes. Perhaps the better report to read from that vintage year is Anthony Cordesman&#8216;s 2007 study for the Center for Strategic and Independent Studies examining the outcomes of a hypothetical nuclear war in the Middle East between Israel and Iran. Cordesman concluded that once a conflict got started it would tend to escalate to where both countries were destroyed.  A summary of the study on the CSIS site says:]]>Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:19:31 -0400<![CDATA[Richard Fernandez]]>https://pjmedia.com/richard-fernandez/2009/10/13/armageddon-revisited-n189286