Posted on 03/28/2006 5:14:53 PM PST by blam
Rice: Iran a Menace Beyond Nuclear Issue
Wednesday March 29, 2006 1:31 AM
By ANNE GEARAN
AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday that Iran was a menace for reasons other than its alleged drive to build a nuclear bomb and that the U.S. and its allies have ``a number of tools'' if Tehran does not change its ways.
``I think there's no doubt that Iran is the single biggest threat from a state that we face,'' Rice told a Senate panel.
She claimed strong international backing for the U.S. position that Iran must not be allowed to continue what she claimed is a covert effort to gain bomb-making expertise and technology.
``We need now to broaden that thinking and that coalition, not just to what Iran is doing on the nuclear side but also what they're doing on terrorism,'' Rice said. ``Those are some of the discussions that I have with these same states.''
She repeated claims that Iran is meddling in Iraq, bankrolling terrorism in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories and repressing its people.
``We have a number of tools, I think, at our disposal, including in sharpening the contradiction between the Iranian people and a regime that does not represent them,'' Rice said. The $75 million that has been requested to promote democracy in Iran could be used for that fight, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Is she see mushroom clouds again?
I rarely give the gaurdian any creedence but this report sounds about right
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