The Bush administration has been accused of creating a "false
sense of urgency about a nuclear menace" from Iran. In a leading
article on Saturday, the New York Times warned that current hardline
talk about Iran's connections to terrorists, criticism of European
diplomatic efforts at appeasement of a "rogue" regime, plus Colin
Powell's "ominous-sounding warnings about new intelligence which turns
out to be dubious," were reminiscent of how America was rushed into an
"unnecessary conflict with Iraq." The editorial said, "Let's be
clear-eyed about this: Iran has an active nuclear programme, has not
tried terribly hard to hide it and has been dishonest in its dealings
with the West. But nothing we have seen suggests some new, urgent
development in Iran that would impel American officials to start
talking about ?the military option.' In fact, the most recent
developments have been encouraging. Last week, under the threat of a
looming UN deadline, Tehran said it would freeze all uranium and
plutonium processing and invite back international inspectors. It
was a welcome step, resulting from efforts by Britain, France and
Germany, and signalled that even the hardliners in Tehran are
susceptible to economic appeals." [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
See website for complete article licensing information.