War With Iran For Knowledge

Two significant things happened in October 2007. One was the visit of Russia's President Vladimir Putin to Iran in mid October, as he was the first Kremlin leader to visit Iran since Josef Stalin in 1943.  He exchanged warm words with Iranians and said that there is no evidence to suggest Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb and "peaceful nuclear activities must be allowed." He also warned against the use of force against Iran “Not only should we reject the use of force, but also the mention of force as a possibility."

Second was the statement of United States President George W. Bush about Iran.  Soon after the visit of Putin to Iran, he said in a news conference on 17th October "We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel... So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War Three, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

Many people were stunned to hear his remarks about possibility of a World War III and knowledge to make a nuclear weapon. Earlier it was all about making the bomb so no one was sure, at that time, about his statement regarding knowledge. But now it’s a different story and the box is opened.

On 3rd December 2007, a new assessment “Iran: Nuclear Intentions and Capabilities” by National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), that represents the consensus view of all 16 American spy agencies, concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program and that the program remains frozen since 2003. The same NIE reported in 2005 that Iran had an active Secret Arms program to make Nuclear Weapon. Now US Intelligence agencies believe that Iran currently is not making a Nuclear Bomb.

In November 2007, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohammed ElBaradei, reported that no evidences were found that Iran is pursuing for an atomic bomb.

One would have thought that this disclosure will make it harder for President George Bush to continue his inflammatory rhetoric or justify a military strike against Iran before he leaves office next year. But on 4th December He said “Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon." He also did not rule out any options “the NIE doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world - quite the contrary. ------------The best diplomacy - effective diplomacy - is one in which all options are on the table.”
 

From International point of view, much of the air from War balloon is out after declassification of this report. Russia and China, two of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, which were resisting calls for increased sanctions even before the intelligence report, will certainly be tougher in their stance now. China's ambassador to the United Nations has said “certainly this report coming out will have implications for Security Council members, ------ now things have changed."

Mr. Bush was aware of the new findings – though may not completely – since August, so from October he changed his approach from making of a nuclear bomb to knowledge to make a nuclear weapon by remaining on the same track of conflict with Iran. It means no difference in American attitude whether Iran is making a nuclear bomb or not. Because American president believes that Iran has the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon which is as dangerous as making of a nuclear bomb.  The real question is that how can someone halt or end the knowledge? Will Iran ever accept that? Surely not, so the things will remain messy as Bush would hope for.

In the coming months, we will hear much about the ridiculous knowledge argument, but hopefully such manipulation of the words from hawkish American administration will not lead the world to another devastating war in Middle East, as the people of United States, Iran, and the whole world are against it.