Indymedia e' un collettivo di organizzazioni, centri sociali, radio, media, giornalisti, videomaker che offre una copertura degli eventi italiani indipendente dall'informazione istituzionale e commerciale e dalle organizzazioni politiche.
toolbar di navigazione
toolbar di navigazione home | chi siamo · contatti · aiuto · partecipa | pubblica | agenda · forum · newswire · archivi | cerca · traduzioni · xml | toolbar di navigazione toolbarr di navigazione toolbarr di navigazione toolbar di navigazione
Campagne

CD GE2001 - un'idea di Supporto Legale per raccogliere fondi sufficienti a finanziare la Segreteria Legale del Genoa Legal Forum


IMC Italia
Ultime features in categoria
[biowar] La sindrome di Quirra
[sardegna] Ripensare Indymedia
[lombardia] AgainstTheirPeace
[lombardia] ((( i )))
[lombardia] Sentenza 11 Marzo
[calabria] Processo al Sud Ribelle
[guerreglobali] Raid israeliani su Gaza
[guerreglobali] Barricate e morte a Oaxaca
[roma] Superwalter
[napoli] repressione a Benevento
[piemunt] Rbo cambia sede
[economie] il sangue di roma
Archivio completo delle feature »
toolbarr di navigazione
IMC Locali
Abruzzo
Bologna
Calabria
Genova
Lombardia
Napoli
Nordest
Puglia
Roma
Sardegna
Sicilia
Piemonte
Toscana
Umbria
toolbar di navigazione
Categorie
Antifa
Antimafie
Antipro
Culture
Carcere
Dicono di noi
Diritti digitali
Ecologie
Economie/Lavoro
Guerre globali
Mediascape
Migranti/Cittadinanza
Repressione/Controllo
Saperi/Filosofie
Sex & Gender
Psiche
toolbar di navigazione
Dossier
Sicurezza e privacy in rete
Euskadi: le liberta' negate
Antenna Sicilia: di chi e' l'informazione
Diritti Umani in Pakistan
CPT - Storie di un lager
Antifa - destra romana
Scarceranda
Tecniche di disinformazione
Palestina
Argentina
Karachaganak
La sindrome di Quirra
toolbar di navigazione
Autoproduzioni

Video
Radio
Print
Strumenti

Network

www.indymedia.org

Projects
oceania
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa
ambazonia
canarias
estrecho / madiaq
nigeria
south africa

Canada
alberta
hamilton
maritimes
montreal
ontario
ottawa
quebec
thunder bay
vancouver
victoria
windsor
winnipeg

East Asia
japan
manila
qc

Europe
andorra
antwerp
athens
austria
barcelona
belgium
belgrade
bristol
croatia
cyprus
estrecho / madiaq
euskal herria
galiza
germany
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
lille
madrid
nantes
netherlands
nice
norway
oost-vlaanderen
paris
poland
portugal
prague
russia
sweden
switzerland
thessaloniki
united kingdom
west vlaanderen

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
brasil
chiapas
chile
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
sonora
tijuana
uruguay

Oceania
adelaide
aotearoa
brisbane
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india
mumbai

United States
arizona
arkansas
atlanta
austin
baltimore
boston
buffalo
charlottesville
chicago
cleveland
colorado
danbury, ct
dc
hawaii
houston
idaho
ithaca
la
madison
maine
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
ny capital
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa cruz, ca
seattle
st louis
tallahassee-red hills
tennessee
urbana-champaign
utah
vermont
western mass

West Asia
beirut
israel
palestine

Process
discussion
fbi/legal updates
indymedia faq
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech
volunteer

Vedi tutti gli articoli senza commenti
Ci riprovano con l'Iran, parte la giostra delle false accuse.
by mazzetta Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004 at 12:10 PM mail:

Scene gia' viste

Ci riprovano con l'I...
iranbomb.jpg, image/jpeg, 600x409

Per accusare l'Iraq di ogni nefandezza, con accuse poi rivelatesi false, gli Usa citarono i "resistenti" iracheni.
Ora ci riprovano e attaccano l'Iran esibendo i Mujahedeen del popolo, organizzazione che gli stessi Usa considerano da anni "terroristica".
Che si tratti di una operazione di propaganda è evidente sia dalla fonte che dai dettagli forniti per sostenere la tesi americana.

Si informa, infatti, che l'Iran sarebbe stato rifornito dal "Kahn network" l'eufemismo dietro al quale è stato celato il più grande scandalo dello scorso anno, quando si è scoperto che il governo pakistano vendeva materiali e tecnologie nucleari a Libia, Iran e Corea del Nord.
Grazie alla fonte altamente attendibile, si avvia di nuovo il circo gia visto, fatto di accuse inconsistenti volte a creare un pretestuoso casus belli.
Da notare che nessuno ha mai attaccato un altro stato per il solo fatto che possedesse tecnologia nucleare.
Da notare che l'arma nucleare è sempre stata teorizzata come un deterrente, cioè arma difensiva, e non certo come un ordigno utile a chi voglia minacciare gli stati vicini, visto che lanciarla sui confinanti significa poi esporsi al fall-out e a rappresaglie inimmaginabili.

Pretesti buoni a mantenere accesa la sensazione di pericolo nelle opinioni pubbliche, ancora una volta esposte alle seduzioni della "colomba" Powell, che magari tra qualche mese se ne verrà fuori dicendo di aver concesso troppa fiducia ai Mujahedeen, nel tentativo di giustificare un bombardamento su Teheran.
Dello stesso tenore le "confidenze" che sostiene possedere Powell, visto che il programma missilistico iraniano è ben noto ed annunciato dallo stesso governo di Teheran, che fa d'abitudine, ne' più ne' meno, quello che ha fatto oggi il presidente russo Putin annunciando orgoglioso un vettore capace di colpire ovunque sul pianeta.

Una vicenda coperta dalla propaganda americana, che a giugno di quest'anno si attribuiva il merito dello smantellamento del network (sic!), mentre il traffico è emerso grazie alla soffiata dei libici agli ispettori della AIEA, mentre la Cia inviava spie a controllare le ex-repubbliche sovietiche.

Come con l'Iraq: fonti poco affidabili, il pretesto delle armi di distruzione di massa, gli show in TV contro i "cattivi", tutta la macchina romba per la prossima "guerra preventiva", mentre Iran ed Europa trattano questioni serie, e mentre l'Iran, diversamente da altri stati aderisce ed onora in TNP (Trattato di non Proliferazione Nucleare), che altri paesi vicini, come Pakistan ed Israele, rifiutano di firmare.

Non si tratta di due pesi e due misure, ma dell'arroganza dell'amministrazione Bush nel perseguire i suoi scandalosi obbiettivi ammaliando le opinioni pubbliche con show di pessimo gusto e nessuna attendibilità.

Nella foto un Mujahedeen del popolo rifugiato a Parigi, Mohammad Mohaddessin, indica i siti sospetti su una carta (non dimenticando di aggiungere la certezza sulla produzione di armi chimiche), perfetta riedizione del falso show dei fuoriusciti iracheni che indicavano i camion del terrore; i famosi "laboratori mobili" che servivano da fabbriche per gli armamenti chimici iracheni. Camion svaniti insieme ai presunti testimoni nel disonore di una commissione che ne ha accertato la falsità.
A questo proposito valga la circostanza citata dal WP sulla loro attendibilità: "The NCRI helped expose Iran's nuclear ambitions in 2002 by disclosing the location of the government's secret uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. But many of its subsequent assertions about the program have proven inaccurate".
Quindi parliamo di una fonte che si è gia dimostrata inaffidabile e che non fornisce prove, ma solo illazioni: "The group gave no evidence for its claims"

Gia' visto anche come le considerazioni degli ispettori dell'Onu non vengano prese in considerazione quando smentiscono i "testimoni di Bush" (In a 32-page report, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei wrote that "all the declared nuclear material in Iran has been accounted for, and therefore such material is not diverted to prohibited activities").

Non resta che prepararsi al "processo all'Iran", la consueta farsa che dovrebbe legittimare le smanie da cowboy dell'amministrazione Bush.

Terremo la lista di quanti astuti italiani "abboccheranno" alla farsa, stay tuned!




la storia qui:
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2004/02/476563.php
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2004/02/487292.php
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2004/02/475293_comment.php



Qui l'articolo del WP:

Powell Says Iran Is Pursuing Bomb
Evidence Cited of Effort to Adapt Missile

By Robin Wright and Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, November 18, 2004; Page A01

SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 17 -- The United States has intelligence that Iran is working to adapt missiles to deliver a nuclear weapon, further evidence that the Islamic republic is determined to acquire a nuclear bomb, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday.

Separately, an Iranian opposition exile group charged in Paris that Iran is enriching uranium at a secret military facility unknown to U.N. weapons inspectors. Iran has denied seeking to build nuclear weapons.


"I have seen some information that would suggest that they have been actively working on delivery systems. . . . You don't have a weapon until you put it in something that can deliver a weapon," Powell told reporters traveling with him to Chile for an Asia-Pacific economic summit. "I'm not talking about uranium or fissile material or the warhead; I'm talking about what one does with a warhead."

Powell's comments came just three days after an agreement between Iran and three European countries -- Britain, France and Germany -- designed to limit Tehran's ability to divert its peaceful nuclear energy program for military use. The primary focus of the deal, accepted by Iran on Sunday and due to go into effect Nov. 22, is a stipulation that Iran indefinitely suspend its uranium enrichment program.

The issue of adapting a missile is separate from the question of enriching uranium for use in a weapon.

"I'm talking about information that says they not only have these missiles, but I am aware of information that suggests that they were working hard as to how to put the two together," Powell said, referring to the process of matching warheads to missiles. He spoke to reporters during a refueling stop in Manaus, Brazil.

"There is no doubt in my mind -- and it's fairly straightforward from what we've been saying for years -- that they have been interested in a nuclear weapon that has utility, meaning that it is something they would be able to deliver, not just something that sits there," Powell said.

Iran has long been known to have a missile program, while denying that it was seeking a nuclear bomb. Powell seemed to be suggesting that efforts not previously disclosed were underway to arm missiles with nuclear warheads.

Joseph Cirincione, director of the Non-Proliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Powell's remarks indicated that Iran was trying to master the difficult technology of reducing the size of a nuclear warhead to fit on a ballistic missile.

"Powell appears to be saying the Iranians are working very hard on this capability," Cirincione said. He said Powell's comments were striking because the International Atomic Energy Agency said this week that it had not seen any information that Iran had conducted weapons-related work.

In a 32-page report, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei wrote that "all the declared nuclear material in Iran has been accounted for, and therefore such material is not diverted to prohibited activities," such as weapons programs. But ElBaradei said that he could not rule out the possibility that Iran was conducting a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Powell also told reporters that the United States had not decided what action to take following Sunday's agreement. The Bush administration had insisted that Iran's past violations warranted taking the matter to the U.N. Security Council.

Powell said the United States would monitor verification efforts "with necessary and deserved caution because for 20 years the Iranians have been trying to hide things from the international community."

Meanwhile, in Paris, the exile group charged that Iran was still enriching uranium and would continue to do so despite the pledge made Sunday to European foreign ministers. The group, the National Council for Resistance in Iran, or NCRI, also claimed that Iran received blueprints for a Chinese-made bomb in the mid-1990s from the global nuclear technology network led by the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The Khan network sold the same type of bomb blueprint to Libya, which has since renounced its nuclear ambitions.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Paris-based NCRI, told reporters at a news conference that the Khan network delivered to the Iranians a small quantity of highly enriched uranium that could be used in making a bomb. But he said the amount was probably too small for use in a weapon.

The NCRI is the political wing of the People's Mujahedeen organization, which the State Department has labeled a terrorist organization. The NCRI helped expose Iran's nuclear ambitions in 2002 by disclosing the location of the government's secret uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. But many of its subsequent assertions about the program have proven inaccurate.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, of the National Council for Resistance in Iran, uses satellite imagery to pinpoint what the group says is a previously unknown nuclear facility in Iran. (Laurent Rebours -- AP)

_____Free E-mail Newsletters_____
• Today's Headlines & Columnists
See a Sample | Sign Up Now
• Breaking News Alerts
See a Sample | Sign Up Now

On Wednesday, Mohaddessin used satellite photos to pinpoint what he said was the new facility, inside a 60-acre complex in the northeast part of Tehran known as the Center for the Development of Advanced Defense Technology. The group said that the site also houses Iranian chemical and biological weapons programs and that uranium enrichment began there a year and a half ago, to replace a nearby facility that was dismantled in March ahead of a visit by a U.N. inspections team.

The group gave no evidence for its claims, but Mohaddessin said, "Our sources were 100 percent sure about their intelligence." He and other group members said the NCRI relies on human sources, including scientists and other people working in the facilities and locals who might live near the facilities and see suspicious activities.

The IAEA, the U.N. nuclear monitoring body, had no immediate comment on the claims but said it took all such reports seriously.

The agency has no information to support the NCRI claims, according to Western diplomats with knowledge of the U.N. body's investigations of Iran.

Some diplomats and arms control experts privately discounted the Iranian group's latest claim, saying it appeared designed to undermine the deal that the Tehran government signed with Britain, France and Germany. In Tehran on Wednesday, Iranian officials said they considered the enrichment suspension temporary and contingent upon a favorable decision at the IAEA meeting next week and on quick progress in talks next month on long-term guarantees that Iran can apply nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Richburg reported from Paris. Staff writers Glenn Kessler and Dafna Linzer in Washington contributed to this report

versione stampabile | invia ad un amico | aggiungi un commento | apri un dibattito sul forum
non esatto
by mazzetta Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004 at 8:15 PM mail:



Dicono di avere il vettore (missile), ma dicono anche che non sono interessati al nucleare bellico.
L'Europa tratta con l'Iran sul nucleare CIVILE, quello militare non è in discussione, se non per gli americani.

Tra parentesi l'Iran aderisce al trattato Tnp e altri no (Pakistan e Israele per esempio, che detengono ARMI nucleari, non si puo' temere di piu' che venga eletto un governo di fanatici in questi paesi?).
Faccio inoltre presente che sono circa 70 i paesi con la capacità di produrre un'arma nucleare dalla sera alla mattina, una commissione del Senato ne ha costruita una con roba raccattata su internet.

Se non lo fanno per creare un casus belli, perchè accusare l'Iran senza prove, azzardando letteralmente la calunnia?
Puo' essere un legittimo casus belli, questo vero e proprio processo alle intenzioni?

Qualcuno ha dimostrato che l'Iran abbia ,ire espansionistiche, o abbia mai rivendicato territori?

Lo stesso sentiero che condusse alla guerra in Iraq, lo stesso plot, neanche un po' di fantasia.......

versione stampabile | invia ad un amico | aggiungi un commento | apri un dibattito sul forum
ma intanto
by alcuni dubbi Thursday, Nov. 18, 2004 at 9:31 PM mail:

1 Londra parigi russia e Cina hanno messo le mani avanti accordandosi con l'Iran

2 perchè allora si distruggono le città sunnite a tutto vantaggio degli sciiti e,quindi, dell'iran?

versione stampabile | invia ad un amico | aggiungi un commento | apri un dibattito sul forum
dubbi >>>
by mazzetta Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 at 9:00 AM mail:



1 è normale che le altre "POTENZE" non stiano a guardare, la Cina ha appena firmato un contratto da 100 miliardi di dollari pewr il petrolio.
Evidentemente, se la Cina che e' quasi confinante e ha pure qualche problemuccio con gli islamici, si fida di Teheran a tal punto, c'e' da pensare che Teheran non sia quel covo di serpi fanatiche che vogliono un mondo islamico che gli Usa ci dipingono ogni volta

2 credo che l'iran, o la sua vicinanza non influenzino tanto l'attuale teatro di guerra in Iraq, in ogni caso portare la tensione tra gli sciiti (che non sono filoiraniani), vorrebbe dire perdere il controllo del paese, per ora gli Usa di dedicano a quelli che sparano, con i curdi ci sono ottimi accordi, con gli sciiti una tregua.
Non sono onnipotenti, anche gli americani fanno quel che possono

versione stampabile | invia ad un amico | aggiungi un commento | apri un dibattito sul forum
ancora no alle ipotesi Usa
by sempre WP Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 at 2:04 PM mail:


La Cia non autentica le informazioni dei Mujahedeen, Powell in difficoltà per le sue affermazioni, l'Amministrazione lo difende.


Nuclear Disclosures On Iran Unverified
U.S. Officials Checking Evidence Cited by Powell

By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 19, 2004; Page A01

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell shared information with reporters Wednesday about Iran's nuclear program that was classified and based on an unvetted, single source who provided information that two U.S. officials said yesterday was highly significant if true but has not yet been verified.

Powell and other senior Cabinet members were briefed last week on the sensitive intelligence. The material was stamped "No Foreign," meaning it was not to be shared with allies, although President Bush decided that portions could be shared last week with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, officials said.


According to one official with access to the material, a "walk-in" source approached U.S intelligence earlier this month with more than 1,000 pages purported to be Iranian drawings and technical documents, including a nuclear warhead design and modifications to enable Iranian ballistic missiles to deliver an atomic strike. The official agreed to discuss the information on the condition of anonymity and only because Powell had alluded to it publicly.

But U.S. intelligence officials have been combing the information carefully and with a wary eye, mindful of the mistakes made in trusting intelligence information alleging that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Powell, who announced earlier this week that he would not stay on for a second term, presented that intelligence in a February 2003 speech to the U.N. Security Council that was meant to convince the world that Saddam Hussein needed to be forcefully removed from power. Much of his presentation turned out to be based on information provided by unreliable sources.

If the information on Iran were confirmed, it would mean the Islamic republic is further along than previously known in developing a nuclear weapon and the means to deliver it. The documents included a specific warhead design based on implosion and adjustments aimed at outfitting the warhead on existing Iranian missile systems.

U.S. intelligence has known since at least 2002 that Iran was capable of enriching uranium, the key ingredient in a nuclear bomb. Iran also has a successful missile program. But U.N. nuclear inspectors who have been investigating Iran for nearly two years have found no evidence that Tehran possesses a nuclear warhead design or is conducting a nuclear weapons program.

The Islamic republic, which on Sunday entered into a new deal with France, Britain and Germany to suspend its nuclear program, has denied it is trying to build atomic weapons and insists its work is part of a budding energy effort.

Western intelligence estimates of Iran's capabilities vary. But U.S. officials believe Iran could be three to five years from completing a bomb if it is successful at constructing and operating thousands of highly sophisticated centrifuge parts for enriching uranium.

The information provided by the source, who was not previously known to U.S. intelligence, does not mention uranium or any other area of Iran's known nuclear program, according to the official with access to the material. It focuses instead on a warhead design and modifications to Iran's long-range Shahab-3 missile and a medium-range missile in its arsenal. The Shahab-3 has a range of 800 miles and is capable of hitting Israel.

The official said the CIA remains unsure about the authenticity of the documents and how they came into the informant's possession. A second official would say only that there are questions about the source of the information.

Officials interviewed by The Washington Post did not know the identity of the source or whether the individual is connected to an Iranian exile group that made fresh accusations about Iran at a news conference Wednesday in Paris. The National Council for Resistance in Iran charged that Iran was enriching uranium and will continue to do so despite the pledge made Sunday to European foreign ministers.

The group also claimed that Iran received blueprints for a Chinese-made bomb in the mid-1990s from the global nuclear network led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the State Department, exposed a secret Iranian enrichment facility in 2002, but many of its claims have been inaccurate.

The lack of certainty about the source who approached U.S. intelligence had kept officials from talking publicly about the information, and Powell's comments caught the small group of informed officials by surprise and angered some of them.

Powell's remarks also drew expressions of concern from European allies who just days earlier had entered into an agreement with Iran to suspend work on its nuclear program. Even if the documents are authentic, Iran's possessing them would not by itself violate international law, officials said. And the information was not enough to stop British officials from signing the agreement with Iran.

Yesterday, in an effort to assuage European concerns, the administration told diplomats from those countries that Powell misspoke in releasing information that had not yet been verified, sources said. During a conversation about Iran with reporters accompanying him on a trip to Chile on Wednesday, Powell said he had "seen some information that would suggest that they have been actively working on delivery systems. I'm not talking about uranium or fissile material or the warhead, I'm talking about what one does with a warhead."

Powell's spokesman said yesterday that the secretary stood by those remarks. "The secretary did not misspeak," said State Department spokesman J. Adam Ereli, who added that Powell's deputy, Richard L. Armitage, "saw the same information."


Ereli did not elaborate on the nature of Powell's comments at his daily briefing. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said only that "Powell was talking about intelligence that we have seen, that's what he was referring to."

Meanwhile, senior State Department officials traveling with Powell in Santiago, Chile, said yesterday that President Bush will appeal to Asian leaders this weekend to intercede with North Korea to return to deadlocked talks on its nuclear weapons program.

Bush will press allied leaders of China, Japan, South Korea and Russia -- partners with the United States for more than a year in negotiations to disarm Pyongyang -- on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Chile. The Bush administration believes North Korea may be more willing to reconsider rejoining the six-party talks now that the U.S. presidential election is over, the officials said.

With limited alternatives, U.S. officials hope the president's personal intervention will impress allies to try once again to prod North Korea. "Bush's meetings with leaders are going to be quite significant in stating his own commitment to the six-party process," said a senior State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive diplomacy.

The diplomatic effort has been in trouble since Kim Jong Il's government boycotted a planned session of the six-party talks in September. The Bush administration believes North Korea was waiting to see the fate of Democratic candidate John F. Kerry, who had proposed the kind of direct talks the Clinton administration tried in 2000.

Japan and South Korea have offered economic and energy incentives as part of the package to win North Korea's compliance. But North Korea had been holding out for additional incentives, including the prospect of one-on-one talks with the United States, as conditions to resume negotiations.

Staff writers Robin Wright in Santiago, Chile, and Glenn Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.

versione stampabile | invia ad un amico | aggiungi un commento | apri un dibattito sul forum
Stessa tesi sul NYTimes: "Lo rifanno"
by NYT Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 at 2:24 PM mail:

Bush Confronts New Challenge on Issue of Iran
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN

Published: November 19, 2004


SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 18 - While assembling a new national security team, President Bush is confronting what could become the biggest challenge of his second term: how to contain Iran's nuclear program and what some in the administration believe to be Tehran's support of violence in Israel and insurgents in Iraq.

In an eerie repetition of the prelude to the Iraq war, hawks in the administration and Congress are trumpeting ominous disclosures about Iran's nuclear capacities to make the case that Iran is a threat that must be confronted, either by economic sanctions, military action, or "regime change."

But Britain, France and Germany are urging diplomacy, placing their hopes in a deal they brokered last week in which Iran agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment program in return for discussions about future economic benefits.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell thrust himself into the debate on Wednesday by commenting to reporters that fresh intelligence showed that Iran was "actively working" on a program to enable its missiles to carry nuclear bombs, a development he said "should be of concern to all parties."

The disclosures alluded to by Mr. Powell were seen by hard-liners in the administration as another sign of Iranian perfidy, and by Europeans as little new.

Although Mr. Powell has praised the negotiations between the Europeans and Iran, one administration official said that his comment suggested that there was "a steady tightening of outlook between hawks and doves" that Iran will use the negotiations as a pretext to continue its nuclear program in private.

Leading the charge for a tough line on Iran has been John R. Bolton, under secretary of state for arms control and international security. At the moment, administration officials say there are no prominent members of Mr. Bush's inner circle enthusiastic about the European approach of negotiating with Iran; most of the moderates are lower-level areas specialists in the State Department. But only last week Prime Minister Tony Blair persuaded Mr. Bush to endorse the European approach.

Though Mr. Powell will soon leave Mr. Bush's administration, he is about to face a tough choice on Iran - whether to have an extensive conversation with the Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, or to avoid any contact when the two men attend a conference in Egypt next week.

"The simple fact is the secretary doesn't want to meet with Kharrazi," said an administration official, adding that that he saw little opportunity for dialogue and that Mr. Powell may have been signaling his pessimism when he made the disclosure about Iran's missile capability.

The possible Powell-Kharrazi meeting could occur Tuesday at Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, where European, Middle Eastern and other envoys are attending a conference on the future of Iraq. A top aide to Mr. Powell said the secretary would go with talking points to discuss ways to improve Iranian-American relations, but that it was up to the Iranians whether the conversation would take place.

A European diplomat familiar with the British-French-German initiative said they were also pessimistic that Iran would back off its nuclear ambitions, but that they had no choice but to engage Iran because military options were distasteful or impractical after the troubled invasion and occupation of Iraq.

"America clearly understands that Iran will be one of its greatest threats in the second administration," this diplomat said. "But the Europeans understand that even the greatest threats also present a great opportunity to resolve problems."

Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former policy and planning director under Secretary Powell, said he favored a major effort to offer incentives to moderate Iran's behavior, combined with threats of tough action if it does not.

European leaders say they want the United States to join with them in offering economic incentives to Iran, such as working to get Tehran to join the World Trade Organization - a step that could not occur without active American support.

Mr. Haass said it made no sense for the Europeans to offer incentives and for the United States to make threats. Both must be done together, he said.
The Iranian issue has vexed the Bush administration for so long that plans to produce a major policy paper within the administration simply ground to a halt last year and have not been revived. American contacts with Iran were cut off last May, when Iran was linked to groups that carried out bombings in Saudi Arabia.

Administration officials said there was fresh evidence that Iran supported insurgents in Iraq and had stepped up its support of the militant organization Hezbollah, which Israel now says is helping to subsidize organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad who have carried out suicide bombings there.

Indeed, an administration official said that Americans believed that Iran was supporting suicide bombers and insurgents in response to the pressure over its nuclear program - and specifically to warn Israel not to consider the kind of airstrike on a nuclear reactor that it carried out in Iraq more than two decades ago.

Officially, administration officials say that a military option like the one employed by Israel in 1981 against Iraq, when it bombed a reactor near Baghdad, is unrealistic because the Iranians have buried their most important nuclear facilities and can rebuild anything that is destroyed.

But an administration official said that a military strike or sabotage was not out of the question - "you never take the military option off the table," he said - and that in any case it was "money in the bank" for Iran to be concerned about such an option, because it might be goaded into a more conciliatory approach to the United States.

On the other hand, many in the administration say that Iran is not likely to enter into talks with the United States, as the Europeans want, because the revolutionary clerics who control the government are unalterably opposed to engaging with a country it considers the enemy.

"You can't call yourself a revolutionary regime and also negotiate with the Great Satan," said an administration official.

For months the United States's position has been not to threaten war but to force the issue to the United Nations Security Council, where sanctions - including a ban on oil imports and technology transfers - could be considered. But the European initiative has brought such talk to a halt.

But the thinking among many administration officials is that if the European deal to get Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities falls apart in coming months - if, for example, inspectors are unable to verify compliance - administration hawks will surely enlist others in a campaign to confront Iran with threats.

The decision, said European and American diplomats, will be made by Mr. Bush with his new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, who is said by aides to be of two minds about the problem just as Mr. Powell is - willing to try diplomacy, not sure that it will work and ready to look at other possibilities if it does not.




versione stampabile | invia ad un amico | aggiungi un commento | apri un dibattito sul forum
©opyright :: Independent Media Center
Tutti i materiali presenti sul sito sono distribuiti sotto Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0.
All content is under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 .
.: Disclaimer :.

Questo sito gira su SF-Active 0.9