WorldNetDaily
by Pat Buchanan
08/15/05

Are the Iranian mullahs close to acquiring the bomb? Has Iran violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty by restarting its conversion of yellowcake into uranium hexaflouride? The answer to both is no. By a recent U.S. intelligence review, Iran may be 10 years away from a bomb. And under the NPT, Iran is allowed to enrich uranium for use in her own nuclear power plants. Why, then, this talk of confrontation and pre-emptive strikes? Even if Iran had a weapon, to give it to a terrorist or to use it on a U.S. target would be an act of suicidal insanity by a regime that, no matter how militant, has shown no desire for war with America. What is the worry? Just this. If or when Iran goes nuclear, she has a deterrent to intimidation. U.S. freedom of action in the Persian Gulf comes to an end...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45775


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

President Bush said he could consider using force as a last resort to press Iran to give up its nuclear program. But German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, one of the most prominent European opponents of the US-led war on Iraq, told an election rally on Saturday the threat of force was not acceptable.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081305A.shtml

The neocon plan as I understand it is to stand by while the EU-Iran talks collapse; to acquire a Security Council resolution condemning Iran; have John Bolton as new U.S. ambassador to the UN declare the organization irresponsible if not useless; and then tell the American people the U.S. has tried to deal with Iran's nuclear weapons threat.

http://www.counterpunch.com/leupp08132005.html


From Information Clearing House

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16245680%255E1702,00.html


Informant: Kev Hall

As diplomatic historian Gabriel Kolko commented, "By destroying a united Iraq under [Saddam] Hussein ... the US removed the main barrier to Iran's eventual triumph."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GH11Ak01.html



Iran Took Advantage Of Time In The Shadows To Build Power:

Iran, if things continue to go its way, finds itself on the threshold of controlling vast oil resources that stretch from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean ... Iran is well on its way to achieving de facto control of significant portions of Iraq.

http://snipurl.com/gvtb



From Information Clearing House

by Mike Whitney

The facts about Iran’s “alleged” nuclear weapons program have never been in dispute. There is no such program and no one has ever produced a shred of credible evidence to the contrary. That hasn’t stopped the Bush administration from making spurious accusations and threats, nor has it deterred America’s “imbedded” media from implying that Iran is hiding a nuclear weapons program from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). In fact, the media routinely features the unconfirmed claims of members of terrorist organizations, like the Mujahedin-e-Kalq, (which is on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations) to make it appear that Iran is secretively developing nuclear arms. These claims have proved to be entirely baseless and should be dismissed as just another part of Washington’s propaganda war. Sound familiar?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Aug05/Whitney0810.htm

It seems unimaginable that the world would be forced to endure the horror of nuclear war in a regional dispute, writes Professor Michael Schwartz. However, the record of Bush administration belligerence makes it difficult to imagine America's top leadership giving up the ambition of toppling the Islamic regime in Iran.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/081005M.shtml