Fool Me Once, Mr Bush, We Don’t Buy Your New Iran Claims
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Recent violence in Basra has convinced the administration of President George W. Bush that Iran and not Al-Qaeda is now the primary threat to US interests in Iraq, The Washington Post said Saturday.
Citing unnamed senior US officials, the newspaper said this view has sparked a broad reassessment of Washington’s policy in the region and prompted Defense Secretary Robert Gates to speak about Tehran’s “malign” influence there.
During their Washington visit, General David Petraeus, the top US military commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker barely mentioned Al-Qaeda in Iraq but spoke extensively of Iran, the paper said.
With “Al-Qaeda in retreat and disarray” in Iraq “we see other obstacles that were under the waterline more clearly .. The Iranian-armed militias are now the biggest threat to internal order,” the Post quoted one official as saying.
As a result of this new approach, the administration has initiated an inter-agency assessment of what is known about Iranian activities and intentions and how to combat them, the report said.
President Bush for his part reiterated, in an interview with ABC News, that if Iran continues to help militias in Iraq, “then we’ll deal with them.”
Iran a Nuclear Threat, Bush Insists
Experts Say President Is Wrong and Is Escalating Tensions
Bush calls Iran ‘threat to world peace’
JERUSALEM (CNN) — The war of words between United States and Tehran continued Wednesday, with President Bush repeating his assertion that Iran is “a threat to world peace.”
CIA chief asserts Iran nuclear threat
Hayden says he believes Tehran is pursuing a nuclear bomb, even though intelligence agencies have said the effort was halted in 2003.
Iran may be biggest threat to Iraq: U.S. general
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran may pose the greatest long-term threat to Iraq’s stability, Army Lt. Gen Ray Odierno said on Tuesday, the day after Iran’s president wrapped up a visit to Baghdad.
Iran cleric rejects Bush’s accusations on Iraq
Iran and al Qaeda among greatest threats to U.S.: Bush
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush issued a stark warning to Iran to stop interfering in Iraq on Thursday and characterized Iran and al Qaeda as “two of the greatest threats to America.”
Same story, second verse … is this a repeat of the solid evidence we heard 5 years ago? Same story, different country. Is this the drum roll before the curtains open on another invasion? Bush is trying to make a big deal the navy games that Iran’s gun boats play. Funny, Bush isn’t paying much lip service to the Russian bombers that tickle the edges of Alaska’s boundaries. Canada has also had to run those bombers off many times lately. This saber rattling is trying to prepare the American public for the next act in Bush’s Armageddon Fantasy. Iran will not be backed into a corner without a fight. Bush will have to manufacture a convincing demonstration of Iran’s threat to America, if he expects this country’s cooperation. He has 9 months to pull this off. That’s a lot of time to manufacture a terrorist attack.
“So I’ve told people that, if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon,” said Bush.
Do we really think Iran wants to ruin it’s beautiful country? Do we really think Irani citizens are paying more attention to Ahmadenijad than Americans are to Bush? This is Bush’s last power play, so it should be a doozy.
UDATE:
US edges closer to engaging Iran
By M K Bhadrakumar
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
T S Eliot’s famous opening lines from The Waste Land come to mind as Washington confirms that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is heading for the Middle East to attend an international conference regarding the Iraq situation, in Kuwait on April 22. This will be no ordinary run-of-the-mill international conference. It’s about Iraq. And Rice may well bump into her Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki.
The big question is, as Eliot wrote, will they “drink coffee, and talk for an hour?” Indeed, will Mottaki call Rice “the hyacinth girl”? All that US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack would say at his press briefing on Wednesday was that “there’s nothing on the schedule for them to meet”. He wouldn’t make promises, nor rule out anything. But then Tehran hasn’t yet announced Mottaki’s participation at the Kuwait conference.
McCormack, however, volunteered an estimation that the Iranians have incrementally thawed in recent months. He added, “There was a sort of avoidance [initially] on the part of the Iranians. But that’s changed … They [Rice and Mottaki] didn’t have what I would describe as any substantive conversations, but there was some interaction [at a previous Istanbul meet on Iraq].”
So, if the “iceman cometh” from Tehran, this could undoubtedly turn out to be one of the most crucial missions undertaken by Rice in her diplomatic career. The entire Middle East will be watching, attentively looking for clues in Rice’s gait, her demeanor. They will want to know whether Washington is taking the plunge for unconditional talks with Tehran.
This issue will be developing every day. Expect no substance from American media. Watch Asian, Indian, Canadian, British and Australian news outlets to be more forthcoming about the details of these meetings. The future of humans on this planet will be determined by the next 9 months of George Bush’s Presidency.
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