Iran is an island of stability
2003/10/26
IRIB English News
Tehran, Oct 26 - Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here on Sunday that whether they like it or not, White House extremists will suffer a humiliating defeat in Iraq.
Rafsanjani said at a ceremony to honor a group from the armed forces that even the American people refer to US President George W.Bush as a war criminal who should be put on trial.
He said the US forces are trying to get rid of the insecure and tumult-ridden country of Iraq and today, there are rare cases in which people across the world do not protest the Medieval war-mongering policies of the occupiers.
He added that Iraqi people have now been provided a historical chance to establish a free Iraq, being independent of foreigners, and reap an honor for themselves in the history.
Ongoing conditions in the region and the world have provided a chance for unity in the world of Islam, said Rafsanjani, adding that in light of wisdom and vigilance any ambition in the region would be obstructed.
"Despite all the enemy pressures and charges, Iran is now an island of stability in the region thanks to the blood shed by the martyrs, war veterans and war disabled during the sacred defense, "added the Expediency Council chairman.
http://www.iribnews.com/Full_en.asp?news_id=191162&n=14Dubious promises from Iran
The Washington Times
Oct, 27th 2003
Last week's announcement by the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain that Iran has vowed to suspend its effort to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons should be taken with a heavy dose of skepticism. Under the agreement, Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for the Europeans' promise to help it acquire peaceful nuclear technology. As we go to press, however, Iran denies having agreed to halt uranium enrichment.
But the reality is that, even if Iran formally agrees to do this, there is scant likelihood that the deal (which for now, has the reluctantendorsementoftheBush administration) will do anything to dissuade the radical Islamic regime from its goal of obtaining nuclear weapons. One veteran expert who is skeptical is Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, who explained his position in an interview with The Washington Times and a New York Times op-ed.
According to Mr. Milhollin, the agreement is likely to achieve a result much like the failed 1994 agreement between the Clinton administration and North Korea, in which Pyongyang agreed to stop producing plutonium. Under the agreement, brokered by former President Jimmy Carter, North Korea received economic benefits and avoided diplomatic isolation. But, according to Mr. Milhollin, the agreement left five bombs worth of plutonium inside North Korea's borders. The government remained only months away from converting that material into bomb fuel — something the North Koreans now claim to have done.
Mr. Milhollin told us that the European deal with Iran will not prevent that government from building more centrifuges, which are needed to make weapons-grade uranium, and there is nothing in the agreement to prevent Iran from resuming uranium enrichment in the future. The Iran deal, Mr. Milhollin said, buys time for a government that has no intention of halting its nuclear program.
A more productive approach, Mr. Milhollin told The Washington Times, would have Washington mobilize its Western European and Japanese allies to stop selling Iran dual-use items like machine tools, computers and high-strength steel used to produce ballistic missiles unless Iran agrees to give international inspectors access sufficient to determine that it is really dismantling its nuclear weapons program.
No one can definitively say how close Iran is to obtaining such weapons. Last week, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told this newspaper that one year from now may be too late to act to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability — a capability that would make the world a much more dangerous place. One thing should be crystal-clear when it comes to heading off this danger: Time is not on our side.
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20031026-105111-1522r.htmThe Useful Idiots give comfort to the mullahs.