By Scott Ritter
". . . there is good reason to question whether or not the Security Council action represents the best policy to deal with Iran's nuclear program. . . .
The original reasoning behind the suspension of uranium enrichment was based on the IAEA's inability to establish the scope and purpose of Iran's uranium enrichment programs. The IAEA is now in a position to do so.
There is no longer any viable technical excuse for suspension, and any continued requirements for such must be judged to be political in nature. . . .
The current U.S. policy on Iran, as articulated by the Bush administration, centers its goals on the issue of regime change in Tehran; the nuclear dispute is simply used as a facilitator for isolating Iran economically and politically.
This approach pollutes the credibility of any multilateral solution to the problem of Iran's nuclear enrichment program endorsed by the United States, such as the current suspension demands of the Security Council, while making it virtually impossible for Iran to embrace any meaningful path toward moderation.
This policy suppresses the forces of moderation and reform within the civil and theocratic branches of the Iranian government and can only lead Iran and the U.S. down a path of increased friction and probable conflict.
The next presidential administration should seek to divorce the United States from any policy seen as supporting regime change inside Iran. . . .
The lifting of economic sanctions against Iran would unshackle the forces of moderation inside that nation. Given the technical and economic shortfalls inherent in the Iranian nuclear program, there is every reason to believe that Iran would gravitate toward policies that make sense economically, such as the current offers of co-enrichment and international support put forward by both Russia and the European Union.
Time, in this case, is an asset, not an enemy. Even Israel, a staunch opponent of Iran's nuclear program, concurs that Iran is years away from having a nuclear weapon.
The next president of the United States must have both the courage and the leadership to forge a new policy direction with Iran, and the patience and fortitude to allow such a policy to bear fruit.
Scott Ritter
is a former UNSCOM weapons inspector in Iraq
Target Iran: The Truth Behind the White House's Plans for Regime Change (Nation Books, 2006).
To read the complete story:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19460.htm
From:
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Information Clearing House Newsletter
News You Won't Find On CNN 05/03/08
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Let Us Work Towards Peace & Joy
Tom Feeley
Tom Feeley
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