By Kenneth J. Theisen
On Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in statements to the Associated Press took verbal swipes at Iran. She accused that nation of being a major threat even though the recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) revealed Iran does not have a nuclear weapons” program. According to Rice, “I don’t think the NIE gives a benign rendering of Iran. I see it as still quite dangerous.”
She accused Iran of having a past nuclear weapons program even though Iran has denied this. “They have embraced the NIE, I assume that they are embracing the entire thing and that means that they must have had a weapons program and that means that they have a lot to answer for.” Referring to Iran and North Korea she stated they “are clearly still states about which there are significant proliferation concerns and … it would be very irresponsible not to deal with those dangers.”
Since the release of the NIE the Bush regime has had to deal with
increasing constraints on it ability to make Iran the international
pariah in order to justify war against that country. But at every
opportunity various officials of the regime continue to attack Iran
verbally, while at the same time attempting to strengthen sanctions
against Iran.
The NIE has clearly proved to be an impediment to the White House in
building international and domestic support for its agenda in regard to
Iran. While the Bush regime would love to deal with Iran by removing
it as an obstacle to control of the Middle East, it does not have
unlimited freedom to do so. International and domestic public opinion
has been impacted by the NIE. The report exposed years of lies of the
Bush regime and made clear, that like in Iraq, the WMDs were illusions
created by the Bush administration.
But even though the lies of Bush and others in his regime have been
exposed, that does not mean that we can let down our guard as to the
possibility of war with Iran. Launching such a war is still very much
in the realm of possibilities for the Bush regime. The NIE has made
that harder, but not impossible. Rice’s recent comments and those of
other people, including the President, show that the danger of war is
still real.
And while nations such as Russia and China clearly oppose any war
launched by the U.S. against Iran for their own reasons, we the people
must play the prime role in preventing our government from launching
any such war. As long as the Bush regime and its enablers rule, we can
not rest.