IRAN: RUNNING TOWARD THE GASOLINE DUMP WITH A LIT MATCH
(Excerpts)
Ever since fanatical Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was installed by the Guardian Council last June via a questionable election, nearly every step taken by the former Commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s foreign assassination outfit has been designed to either solidify his hold on power by purging those in the Iranian government deemed not “revolutionary” enough or making it clear that he seeks confrontation with the west and Israel over the Iranian nuclear program.
Many analysts questioned Ahmadinejad’s victory in the runoff election against long time Iranian politico Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani whose loss to the little known former mayor of Tehran occurred under suspicious circumstances. Prior to the run-off, there were several charges of corruption, including the unleashing of 300,000 Revolutionary Guards to mobilize support for Ahmadinejad. Two newspapers who dared to print a letter outlining the charges from a reformist politician were summarily shut down. Then, in the subsequent run-off between Rafsanjani and Ahmadinejad, ballot box irregularities were reported as a sizable segment of the population boycotted the election. Polling places that were deserted on the day of the election ended up showing thousands of ballots cast for the former hard-line mayor.
It is important to understand that the President of Iran is on a very short leash. His decisions must be ratified by Iran’s Supreme Leader who also controls the ruling Guardian Council which has absolute veto power over laws passed by the Iranian parliament as well as access to the big stick in Iranian society; the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). The Council is made up of 6 clerical members and 6 lawyers, all of whom are appointed by the Supreme Leader. The Council also has absolute authority in matters involving elections, determining who can run and, as we have seen, who wins and who loses. MORE
As we move on to the crux of the issue that has the European community, several Arab states, Israel, and the United States demanding an explanation of and a halt to Iran enriching uranium, Iran has cast its own shadow of doubt on her nuclear ambitions, and the aforementioned countries have every right to question a program you insist is peaceful; for eighteen years, Iran’s nuclear program was hidden from the rest of the world, and by running a covert nuclear program, Iran effectively demonstrated they were attempting to skirt International treaties and hide their nuclear ambitions - and that action in itself does nothing to bolster an air of trust, which is what Iran is requesting that all of the nations do, without any viable rationale or evidence that your programs are actually peaceful:
History
Iran’s interest in nuclear technology predates the Islamic revolution of 1979. Iran’s revolutionaries forced most western trained scientists, engineers and managers out of Iran, greatly slowing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. In the late 1980s, Iran turned to the Soviet Union to restart its civil nuclear program, which at the time centered on the West German designed, but never completed Bushehr nuclear power reactor. Unknown at the time was that in 1985, Iran secretly tapped into the nuclear black market run by the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program – A.Q. Khan. Khan had established a robust network of front companies and clandestine shipments to fuel Pakistan’s own nuclear weapon program. For 18 years, Iran successfully hid – in violation of international law and its voluntary treaty commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency – its clandestine nuclear procurement and development program. This technology was used to design and begin construction on the Natanz uranium enrichment facility where work resumed on January 9th.
International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards are used in most countries to provide confidence that peaceful facilities are not used for military purposes. This is the case in Europe and Japan, and US and Russian peaceful enrichment facilities are open to IAEA inspection. International confidence – albeit a subjective measure – is high that these countries will not use their peaceful enrichment facilities for the production of weapons.
Iran’s now documented 18-year track record of hiding nuclear facilities, and the behavior of its leaders and security forces provide the international community with much lower confidence in its peaceful intentions. Moreover, Iran currently lacks both the nuclear plants needed to make use of enriched uranium or the domestic stocks of uranium ore to justify the expense of a domestic uranium enrichment program. The existence of a robust and economically competitive international set of enrichment providers casts even further doubt on Iran’s motives for pursuing enrichment on such an accelerated and (previously) secretive basis. MORE
If your nuclear plans are peaceful as you claim, why was your nuclear program hidden from the world for eighteen years? Why did Iran also procure plans to build a nuclear weapon from Pakistan’s A.Q. Khan? The history of Iran’s so-called “peaceful” nuclear enrichment program is suspect at best based on Iran’s questionable activities prior to the discovery of their nuclear program - and it’s unreasonable for the world to accept a song and dance from President Ahmadinejad that the program is entirely peaceful until the IEAA is allowed to continue inspections throughout Iran; visiting sites that have been preprepared for international view is nothing more than an open-house into those programs that do comply with IEAA guidelines, however, until Iran allows the IEAA unfettered access to Iran in general, and is able to follow-up on any leads into suspected sites that could be used to produce weapons, the West, Israel, and the European community will remain skeptical of Iran’s intentions, and in this writer’s opinion the skepticism is well deserved.
President Ahmadinejad, the majority of the people in the United States do not favor a preemptive strike against your country, but there are several issues that Iran constantly skirts, and answers have been slow or downright impossible to receive that pertain to sites that we suspect are still operating in secrecy. I have no hard evidence that Iran is actively attempting to produce a nuclear warhead, and while the suspicions we hear may be political rhetoric with no basis in fact, Iran has made it exceedingly difficult to prove those allegations are false. Transparency in the nuclear cycle, from all of Iran’s nuclear facilities would go a long way to dispel those fears, and now we are faced with a situation where Iran can effectively diffuse the situation by cooperating with the International community - but you and those that control your policies are stubborn, refuse to halt uranium enrichment for a period long enough to successfully negotiate and build the trust we need to end this stalemate and enter a period of progress and understanding.
I’m not a diplomat and lack the ability to speak in guarded political terms, so from here forward I’ll just be blunt, speak my mind as an American citizen, which I am entitled to do - and I’ll do my best to communicate how you can help to end this stalemate, gain the trust of the International community, and how you can affect politics in the United States in a positive manner by acting responsibly and working with us to regain stability in the Middle-East as a whole and again bring Iran into the modern world, at least as much as your restrictive society will allow.
We know you follow American politics very carefully, and I have suspicions that many of your actions are based on a perceived belief that our President, George W. Bush, will not instigate an attack on Iran. Those “suspicions” could be true, however, if millions of Americans themselves also don’t trust Bush and Cheney - that should be a wake-up call to your country that a real danger exists - and as the President of Iran, in my humble opinion, rather than risk the lives of people who voted you into office because of a sense of national pride, wouldn’t it be wise to consider negotiating with a true spirit of diffusing the crisis?
As you know, there is now an impeachment measure in Committee to impeach Vice-President Dick Cheney, and if that measure succeeds, you can believe that Bush will be next. If you are a true leader, value the lives of your countrymen as well as the stability of the Middle-East - then what have you to lose to stop the nuclear enrichment program as we in America work to expel the warmongers from the White House and return our country to sanity, the Rule of Law, and halt the aggression of the Bush administration? Is your pride worth starting a war when it could be stopped by prudent action designed to allow negotiations to proceed in good faith? Are you a leader of the people, or a President that resembles our own, intent on furthering his own twisted agenda rather than one that would lead to peace and stability?
When two bullies square off to fight in a battle that everyone loses in the long run, who is the better man - one that decides to make the other look small by complying with United Nation mandates - or allowing the other bully to let your pride possibly cause the destruction of your entire society? Consider this; if Iran’s nuclear program is indeed peaceful as you state, then make a statement to the world, cease nuclear enrichment temporarily until the IAEE has definite proof that your plans are peaceful - and in the final analysis, if you’re telling the truth, who will emerge as the better leader, you who swallowed his pride and complied with the United Nations, or Mr. Bush and Cheney - who are looking for any excuse they can to start a war with your country? If the IAEE eventually does state unequivocally that Iran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful, the blow you will deal to a President that has the lowest poll rating in US history will also have to bear the brunt of explaining why he lied again, and only you can make that happen by deescalating the crisis.
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