March 22, 2008
Dani Reshef
The Middle-East tour of USA Vice-President Dick Cheney is focused on Iran nuclear capacity. The last US Nation Intelligence assessment, a combined assessment of all 16 intelligence apparatus in US, published on 12/03/2007, claimed that the Iranians had not, probably, restarted a nuclear weapons programme that it, allegedly, had until 2003. The report undermined the reluctant International community to cast substantial sanctions on Iran. (See - BUSH'S LAST YEAR )
Iran has accelerated, in response, its nuclear program, its missiles program and its warhead programme so there is little doubt that that technology is valuable without some sort of WMD (Weapon of mass destruction).
On 01/29/2008 the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA, placed in Vienna, issued a report which contradicts US Intelligence assessment and claimed that Iran is concealing large parts of its nuclear program and deceiving IAEA. It is a logical assumption that Iran conceals part of its nuclear program not because the program fully coincides with IAEA and international regulation for atomic energy for civilian usages but to the contrary.
The US Intelligence report damaged the US program to deploy an anti-missile system in East Europe which was in dispute with Russia. US claimed toward Russia that the system is aimed against Iranian capacity. Now, when even US intelligence undermined the Iranian risk - what is the point of deploying such a system that Russia claims is aimed against Russias security.
Arabs Emirates and Saudi Arabia felt that US is about to let them down when it comes to confront the Iranian exertion with nuclear weapons and began with a series of steps to please and compromise with Iran.
The tour of US Vice-President Dick Cheney in the Middle East aims to restore the alliance and creditability of US among the Arab nations and Israel about the attitude and intention of US toward Iranian capacity and to ensure that, as a last resort, Military usage of power is still an option.
In the Iranian context the resignation, on 03/12/2008, of Admiral William Fallon, the US military commander of the Central Command (CENTCOM) in charge of the Middle East, Central Asia and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, also because of disagreements with US president over his policies on Iran, was a clear sign that USA means business when dealing with Iran.
The question if the current administration, after spending 4 months in vain, still have time and legitimacy to lead an international successful campaigne to contain Iranian threat - remains open.
SOURCE: Global Jihad
