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Iran Headline News Update - July 21, 2006

 
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cyrus
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Joined: 24 Jun 2003
Posts: 4993

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 10:54 am    Post subject: Iran Headline News Update - July 21, 2006 Reply with quote

Iran Regime Must Change, Santorum Says
July 21, 2006
The Patriot-News
Brett Lieberman
http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2006&m=07&d=21&a=3

Meanwhile, Iran Gets On With Its Bomb

July 21, 2006
Telegraph
Con Coughlin
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/07/21/do2102.xml

Iran helped cultivate Mideast crisis, US says

Web of ties has Tehran at center
By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | July 21, 2006
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/07/21/iran_helped_cultivate_mideast_crisis_us_says/

European nations circulate U.N. Iran draft

By NICK WADHAMS Associated Press Writer
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4061798.html

Iran, Hezbollah keep close links: Ebtekar

Thursday, 20 July , 2006 18:30:00
Reporter: Mark Colvin
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2006/s1692439.htm

Santorum: Time To Get Tough With Iran

BY IRA STOLL - Staff Reporter of the Sun
July 21, 2006
http://www.nysun.com/article/36456

Hostage to Hezbollah

July 21, 2006
The Wall Street Journal
Fouad Ajami

Britain Sees Chance to Contain Iran's Regional Ambitions

July 21, 2006
Time
Bronwen Maddox
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2279456,00.html

How Iran Uses Wars to Divert Attention From Nuclear Program

July 21, 2006
The Christian Science Monitor
Daniel Schorr
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0721/p09s02-cods.html

Iran: Suicide bombers joined Hezbollah in Lebanon, militant says

http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7978

Briefly: Iran warns 6 nations against turning to UN

Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, The New York Times
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/20/news/briefs.php

Briefly: Iran warns 6 nations against turning to UN

Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press, The New York Times
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2006
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/20/news/briefs.php

Iran leader asks Merkel for help on Zionism -German official

20 Jul 2006 17:37:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Louis Charbonneau
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20811361.htm

Iran: We Support Turkey's Possible Cross-Border Operation

Source: Trend
Author: งก.Mammadov
20.07.2006
http://www.trend.az/?mod=shownews&news=23784&lang=en

Iranians 'Witnessed N. Korea Missile Test'

July 20, 2006
Reuters
From correspondents in Washington
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,19861288-23109,00.html

Iran's Proxy War Against America

July 20, 2006
FrontPageMagazine.com
Kenneth R. Timmerman
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=23440

A Window of Opportunity

July 20, 2006
National Review Online
Michael Ledeen
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjlmNTE1MjE1ZjJmODJkMGE1ZmU0Mzk3ODZjYjEyNTU=

The Drums of War Sound for Iran

July 20, 2006
Inter Press Service
Jim Lobe
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34033

Iran Rejects Demands to Freeze Nuclear Work

July 20, 2006
AFP
ABC News
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1692590.htm

Young Iranians Find Outlet in Internet

July 20, 2006
The Washington Times
Katie Stuhldreher
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060719-111502-6637r.htm
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cyrus
Site Admin


Joined: 24 Jun 2003
Posts: 4993

PostPosted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 2:12 pm    Post subject: In Mideast Strife, Bush Sees a Step To Peace Reply with quote

Analysis
In Mideast Strife, Bush Sees a Step To Peace


By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 21, 2006; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/20/AR2006072001907.html?nav=rss_politics

President Bush's unwillingness to pressure Israel to halt its military campaign in Lebanon is rooted in a view of the Middle East conflict that is sharply different from that of his predecessors.

When hostilities have broken out in the past, the usual U.S. response has been an immediate and public bout of diplomacy aimed at a cease-fire, in the hopes of ensuring that the crisis would not escalate. This week, however, even in the face of growing international demands, the White House has studiously avoided any hint of impatience with Israel. While making it plain it wants civilian casualties limited, the administration is also content to see the Israelis inflict the maximum damage possible on Hezbollah.

As the president's position is described by White House officials, Bush associates and outside Middle East experts, Bush believes that the status quo -- the presence in a sovereign country of a militant group with missiles capable of hitting a U.S. ally -- is unacceptable.

The U.S. position also reflects Bush's deepening belief that Israel is central to the broader campaign against terrorists and represents a shift away from a more traditional view that the United States plays an "honest broker's" role in the Middle East.

In the administration's view, the new conflict is not just a crisis to be managed. It is also an opportunity to seriously degrade a big threat in the region, just as Bush believes he is doing in Iraq. Israel's crippling of Hezbollah, officials also hope, would complete the work of building a functioning democracy in Lebanon and send a strong message to the Syrian and Iranian backers of Hezbollah.

"The president believes that unless you address the root causes of the violence that has afflicted the Middle East, you cannot forge a lasting peace," said White House counselor Dan Bartlett. "He mourns the loss of every life. Yet out of this tragic development, he believes a moment of clarity has arrived."

One former senior administration official said Bush is only emboldened by the pressure from U.N. officials and European leaders to lead a call for a cease-fire. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan demanded yesterday that the fighting in Lebanon stop.

"He thinks he is playing in a longer-term game than the tacticians," said the former official, who spoke anonymously so he could discuss his views candidly. "The tacticians would say: 'Get an immediate cease-fire. Deal first with the humanitarian factors.' The president would say: 'You have an opportunity to really grind down Hezbollah. Let's take it, even if there are other serious consequences that will have to be managed.' "

Jack Rosen, chairman of the American Jewish Congress, said Bush's statements reflect an unambiguous view of the situation. "He doesn't seem to allow his vision to be clouded in any way," said Rosen, a Democrat who has come to admire Bush's Middle East policy. "It follows suit. Israel is in the right. Hezbollah is in the wrong. Terrorists have to be eliminated, and he sees Israel fighting the war he would fight against terrorism."

Many Mideast experts warn that there is a dangerous consequence to this worldview. They believe that Israel, and the United States by extension, is risking serious trouble if it continues with the punishing air strikes that are producing mounting casualties. The history of the Middle East is replete with examples of the limits of military power, they say, noting how the Israeli campaign in Lebanon in the early 1980s helped create the conditions for the rise of Hezbollah.

They warned that the military campaign is turning mainstream Lebanese public opinion against Israel rather than against Hezbollah, which instigated the violence. The attacks also make it more difficult for the Lebanese government to regain normalcy. And what seems now to be a political winner for the president -- the House overwhelmingly approved a resolution yesterday backing Israel's position -- could become a liability if the fighting expands to Syria or if the United States adds Lebanon to Iraq and Afghanistan as a country to which U.S. troops are deployed.

"There needs to be a signal that the Bush administration is prepared to do something," said Larry Garber, the executive director the New Israel Fund, which pushes for civil rights and justice in Israel. "Taking a complete hands-off, casual-observer position undermines our credibility. . . . There is a danger that we will be seen as simply doing Israel's bidding."

Robert Malley, who handled Middle East issues on the National Security Council staff for President Bill Clinton, voiced skepticism about whether the current course would pay off for either Israel or the United States. "It may not succeed with all the time in the world, and Hezbollah could emerge with its dignity intact and much of its political and military arsenal still available," said Malley, who monitors the region for the International Crisis Group. "What will you have gained?"

Those who know Bush say his view of the conflict was shaped by several formative experiences -- in particular the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which made fighting terrorism the central mission of his presidency. Another formative experience was a helicopter ride over the West Bank with Ariel Sharon in 1998, when Bush was Texas governor -- a ride he later said showed him Israel's vulnerability. The cause of Israel has been championed by many of the evangelical Christians who make up a significant chunk of the president's political base.

Bush and his team were also deeply skeptical of the Middle East policy of the previous administration, and of what they see as an excessive devotion to a peace process in which one of the protagonists, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was not seriously invested. Explaining the reluctance to push quickly for a cease-fire, one senior administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record indicated a belief that premature diplomacy might leave Hezbollah in a position of strength.

"We don't want the kind of truce that will lead to another conflict," said this official, who added that, when the time comes, "you will see plenty of diplomacy."

Fred S. Zeidman, a Texas venture capitalist who is active in Jewish affairs and has been close to the president for years, said the current crisis shows the depth of the president's support for Israel. "He will not bow to international pressure to pressure Israel," Zeidman said. "I have never seen a man more committed to Israel."
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