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azzuri
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Deja Vu.....see - http://www.sundayherald.com/54525
| Quote: | DEJA VU
After the Iraq scenario, there is growing evidence that the West is again set on taking steps to disarm a perceived foe.
PEOPLE always make war when they say they love peace: DH Lawrence’s words never seemed truer than they do today as the world totters on the brink over Iran. Later this week the United Nations Security Council is meeting to decide what measures to take over Iran’s development of nuclear technology, including the allegation that for 18 years it concealed key information from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The odds are that little more than a warning will be given, in the shape of a formal statement asking for compliance, but that is only the start of a long and tortuous diplomatic process.
Ahead lies a familiar, well- trodden path. Assuming that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will pay no heed to the UN’s first shot across his bows – he has already said he will not give in to “international bullies” – the pressure will then be cranked up. It is by no means certain that the Security Council will immediately introduce tough sanctions, as France, China or Russia (three of the five permanent members of the 15-country council) might choose to veto any move that seems to harm the people of Iran more than its leadership.
The embargo could begin with “smart” sanctions, which impose travel restrictions on politicians and diplomats and continue in severity to prevent Iran importing technology and strategically important materials. However, the precedents in Iraq and earlier in South Africa are not good. Just as Saddam Hussein found ways round the sanctions through the oil for food programme, so too would Iran look for ways to evade punishment . Iranian officials have already warned that they are prepared to visit “harm and pain” on the world if they are punished in this way.
If sanctions fail, or if Iran makes it impossible for them to be imposed, the US will inevitably fall back on the use of force. The leading hawks in President George W Bush’s administration have already made it clear that military options should be considered now . John Bolton, US ambassador to the UN, has insisted “the Iranian regime must be made aware that if it continues down the path of international isolation, there will be tangible and painful consequences”. This is precisely the kind of rhetoric used by US neo-conservatives in the run-up to the military operations in Iraq.
Even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was at it. Usually a moderating influence in Washington, she chose a congressional hearing last week to warn that the nuclear dispute with Iran could grow slowly and steadily into a major crisis. “If you take that and multiply it by several hundred, you can imagine Iran with nuclear weapons and the threat they would then pose to the region,” she said. “We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran, whose policies are directed at developing a Middle East that would be 180 degrees different than the Middle East would like to see developed.”
Her office has done its best to play down fears that military options are being considered, and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld has insisted that no operational plans exist to attack Iran, but it is inconceivable that Pentagon planners do not have a blueprint for dealing with the country’s nuclear sites. National Security Council director Giora Eiland warned that “if Iran has nuclear weapons, then every other conflict in the Middle East, whether or not Israel is involved or is not involved, will take place under an Iranian nuclear umbrella. The implications are much more than severe.”
The most hawkish comments have come from Israel, a nuclear power in its own right . Their army’s former chief of staff, Moshe Ya’alon, upped the stakes at a lecture to the Hudson Institute in Washington when he claimed Israel had the means to launch successful strikes against Iran’s main nuclear installations.
“Israel has the ability to disrupt the Iranian air defence system; Israel can strike Iran through a number of ways, not only through aerial attack,” he told his US audience. “The Israeli strike can be precise, like targeted assassination. Just as we succeed in striking a lone terrorist, we can also strike a nuclear site without causing major damage to the environment and harming civilians.”
Ya’alon is now a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. His lecture has enraged the Israeli government, which dismissed it as “simply madness”. But Ya’alon’s lecture was so detailed it has to carry weight.
As Ya’alon was giving his lecture, Ami Dror, a former head of research with Israeli intelligence, put forward the argument that the threat posed by Iran is so serious it has to be stopped now. “The Iranians understand that if Israel is hit by any missile, the Iranians will not have enough people to count their dead,” he warned. “It will lead to their destruction and the end of Iran as a civilisation.”
There is one good reason why the rhetoric of violence will not go away: most diplomats do not believe that sanctions will work. Peter Beck of the International Crisis Group points out that, just as North Korea cocked a snook at the UN by withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, so too will Tehran use any splits to continue the development of its nuclear industry.
“The UN or any other international body has never taken any substantial steps to punish problem countries regarding nuclear proliferation,” he said. “I am not expecting any significant steps from that quarter.”
12 March 2006 |
As I said in a previous post a few months ago, I feel it is only a matter of time before George and his cronies invade Iran. He will want to push through the start of a war before his second term is finished in order that any Democrat government coming in will have to 'finish the job' he started.
I don't believe Britain will be involved as it would be political suicide by Blair, though crazy George can get away with whatever he wants and Americans don't seem to care.
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Nina
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This is the beginning of the end... 
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wisnaeme
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If Dubya Incorporated decides to invade then I cannot think of a better way to start a Jihad,destablise a state and focus hatred and cause destruction,pain and loss of life for US citizens ,their western allies in US policy and many inhabitants of a mainly muslim country with a huge population.That will give them cause to reason, rightly or wrongly,that they have right on their side and opportunities for other atrocities to be commited. I don't even want to think about the consequences of such an action by Dubya.He surely couldn't be that stupid?
No, I am not talking about Iran,I am talking about a large nation state closer to the USA. I'm talking about Indonesia. By invading Iran,Dubya courts disaster and destruction,world wide.
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sandmountainslim
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I swear by Jupiter Optimus Maximus and by any other god I may hold in my heart to be holy, and by the majesty of the Imperator and by the Senate of Rome, which next to our gods should be loved and worshipped by the human race. I, swear to perform with enthusiasm whatever the Imperator and my Legion commander should command, follow all laws set forth by the Senate of Rome, never to desert, and not to shrink from death on behalf of the Roman State.
They should rework that for the Yankee Empire.
Deo Vindice
WP
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