[Marxism] Iran a Nuclear Threat, Bush Insists (Washington Post)

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(Notice that this is part of an openly-declared, US-funded
Effort to destabilize Iran, a practice which has a long 
and well-documented history. The program targetting Iran 
is similar in nature to the one targetting Cuba, though 
the blockade of Iran doesn't have a travel-ban component.)
=========================================================

Iran a Nuclear Threat, Bush Insists
Experts Say President Is Wrong and Is Escalating Tensions

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 21, 2008; A14

President Bush said Thursday that Iran has declared that it wants to
be a nuclear power with a weapon to "destroy people," including
others in the Middle East, contradicting the judgments of a recent
U.S. intelligence estimate.

The president spoke in an interview intended to reach out to the
Iranian public on the Persian new year and to express "moral support"
for struggling freedom movements, particularly among youth and women.
It was designed to stress U.S. support for Iran's quest for nuclear
energy and the prospects that Washington and Tehran can "reconcile
their differences" if Iran cooperates with the international
community to ensure that the effort is not converted into a weapons
program.

But most striking was Bush's accusation that Iran has openly declared
its nuclear weapons intentions, even though a National Intelligence
Estimate concluded in December that Iran had stopped its weapons
program in 2003, a major reversal in the long-standing U.S.
assessment.

"They've declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy
people -- some in the Middle East. And that's unacceptable to the
United States, and it's unacceptable to the world," Bush told
U.S.-funded Radio Farda, which broadcasts into Iran in Farsi.

Experts on Iran and nuclear proliferation said the president's
statement was wrong. "That's as uninformed as [Sen. John] McCain's
statement that Iran is training al-Qaeda. Iran has never said it
wanted a nuclear weapon for any reason. It's just not true. It's a
little troubling that the president and the leading Republican
candidate are both so wrong about Iran," said Joseph Cirincione,
president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation.

Others said it is unclear whether the president believes what he said
or was deliberately distorting Iran's position.

"The Iranian government is on the record across the board as saying
it does not want a nuclear weapon. There's plenty of room for
skepticism about these assertions. But it's troubling for the
administration to indicate that Iran is explicitly embracing the
program as a means of destroying another country," said Suzanne
Maloney, an Iran specialist at the State Department until last year
and now at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center.

National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Bush was
referring to previous Iranian statements about wiping Israel off the
map. "The president shorthanded his answer with regard to Iran's
previously secret nuclear weapons program and their current
enrichment and ballistic missile testing," Johndroe said.

In two interviews beamed into Iran, Bush expressed deep respect for
Iranian history and culture. In a second interview with the Voice of
America's Persian News Network, Bush said: "Please don't be
discouraged by the slogans that say America doesn't like you, because
we do, and we respect you."

But analysts warned that Bush's statement on Iran's nuclear
intentions could escalate tensions when U.S. strategy for the first
time in three decades is to persuade Iran to join international talks
in exchange for suspending its uranium enrichment, a process used for
peaceful nuclear energy that can be converted for use in a weapons
program. "The bellicose rhetoric from one side only produces the same
from the other," Maloney said.

Signaling further pressure on Tehran, the administration also issued
a warning on Thursday to U.S. financial institutions about the
dangers of doing business with Iranian banks because of inadequate
checks on money laundering and the growing risks to the international
financial system posed by Iran's financial sector. "The government of
Iran disguises its involvement in proliferation and terrorism
activities through an array of deceptive practices," the Treasury
Department said.

The advisory lists 59 major banks or their branches in cities such as
Athens, Hong Kong, London and Moscow. It includes Iran's Central Bank
and covers many banks not facing sanctions from the United Nations or
the United States.

The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network said that Iran's
Central Bank and commercial banks started asking that their names be
removed from global transactions to make it more difficult for
intermediary financial institutions to determine their true identity
or origin.

The United States recently imposed new restrictions on dealings with
Bahrain-based Future Bank, which is controlled by Iran's Bank Melli.

"Over the past eight days, the U.S. government has undertaken a
number of steps to put Tehran on notice that the international
community will not allow the Iranian government to misuse the
international financial system or global transportation network to
further its aspirations to obtain nuclear weapons capability, improve
its missile systems, or support international terrorism," State
Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.

Staff writers Michael Abramowitz and William Branigin contributed to
this report.


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