US/ISRAEL VS. IRAN

Wahington Times: Commentary: Israel to bomb Iran?
Washington, DC, Jul. 2 (UPI) -- As the Bush Administration concludes it cannot risk Iranian retaliation against a fragile Iraq under U.S. occupation, Israel is dusting off contingency plans to take out Iran's nuclear installations.

On June 24, the key question was asked by Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Adviser to President George H.W. Bush (41): "Are we serious in our efforts to prevent (Iranian) nuclear proliferation, or will we watch the world descend into a maelstrom where weapons-grade nuclear material is plentiful, and unimaginable destructive capability is available to any country or group with a grudge against society?"

Dixieinternet: The Coming Preemptive Strike on Iran
A brief collation of excellent public sources of information, followed by quiet reading, prayer, and consultation has recently led me to several political conclusions I sincerely hope are wrong. Only time will tell.

The first of these is that the United States--and/or its surrogate presence in the Middle East, a Sharon-led Likudnik government in Israel–will engage in a preemptive military strike against the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) regime in Iran and its budding nuclear facilities at Bushehr and Natanz. The only serious questions remaining are the timing of the strike, and whether or not an American-Israeli air assault on the facilities in question will be followed by a larger American military application of aerial and ground forces to enact the Neo-Conservative mantra of “regime change” in Tehran.

AP: Israel Minister Raises Concerns Over Iran
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told the White House on Friday that Iran was trying to develop longer-range missiles that could pose a threat to European nations.

Shalom took his concerns to Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, and then told reporters: "We cannot allow the Iranians to move forward in their efforts to develop nuclear weapons."

The Sun: Nader Warning of ‘Puppets of Israel’
WASHINGTON — Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader yesterday courted the Islamic vote by accusing Republicans and Democrats of ignoring the interests of Muslim Americans and describing the Congress and White House as “puppets of Israel.”

“I don’t think there is any prospect of the two parties differing in any significant way on the Middle East,” Mr. Nader told Muslim activists gathered on Capitol Hill at a hearing titled “The Muslim Vote in Election 2004.”

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be resolved if only the American government would listen to Israel’s peace movement, Mr. Nader said. Instead Israeli leaders regularly get their way in Washington, he claimed.

“The Israeli puppeteer travels to Washington and meets with the puppet in White House. He then goes down Pennsylvania Avenue and meets with the puppets in Congress,” said Mr. Nader.The Israeli leader then “brings back millions of dollars” in aid to Israel, he said.

“It is time for the United States government to stand up and think for itself,” he said.

Comment:
The United States cannot reasonably insist upon Iranian submission to IAEA inspection and potential dismantlement of militarily-related nuclear programs without insisting upon the application of the same standard to the government of Israel, its Dimona nuclear-weapons production plant, and its Institute of Biological Sciences and Research in Tel Aviv, among other operations and sites in that country that meet neither IAEA standards nor those of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPF). The notion that Tehran has no right or legitimate claim to Weapons of Mass Destruction while the regime of international war criminal Ariel Sharon does, is morally and politically unsustainable