Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: U.S. heading to war in Iran, says former inspector

U.S. heading to war in Iran, says former inspector 
BY: MARILYN H. KARFELD Senior Staff Reporter
 
 
The former chief United Nations weapons inspector and a retired Middle
East diplomat recently warned that America was heading straight toward
imminent war with Iran.
And while both talked about wrong-headed U.S. policy in Iraq and Iran,
they also criticized Israel for its role. 
Scott Ritter, UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, and Edward
Peck, onetime chief of mission in Baghdad and former ambassador to
Mauritania, spoke recently at a forum sponsored by Cleveland Peace Action
Now and Trinity Cathedral. Before the event, this reporter and a
journalist from The Plain Dealer talked to Ritter and Peck.
The White House is using outright fabrications and exaggerations to
persuade the American public that Iran has an active nuclear weapons
program, Ritter and Peck claimed. The ultimate goal, they said, is
overthrow of Iran’s Islamic theocracy.
Just as he did with Iraq, President Bush is falsely positioning Iran as a
threat to U.S. national security and a leading sponsor of terrorism,
contended Ritter, a 12-year Marine veteran who spent four years in Israel
as lead liaison between the UN and the Jewish state on the issues of Iraq
and nuclear weapons.  
 
By demonizing Iran and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bush is repeating
the failed policy used against Saddam Hussein in Iraq, said Ritter, 46,
who resigned under pressure from his UN post in 1998. Ritter claimed he
was punished for criticizing the White House’s handling of Saddam Hussein.
Allegations that he spied for Israel were ultimately dropped following an
FBI investigation.
There is an 80% chance of war with Iran, probably in March or April,
insisted the impassioned Ritter, who was last in Iran in September 2005. A
second window of opportunity for an air assault opens in October or
November, he added.
Ritter has been making this prediction of war with Iran for at least three
years. Internet research turned up a similar forecast he made in April
2005, insisting an aerial attack on Iran was likely that June.
Israel, according to his 2006 book, is largely responsible for the coming
military action. The Jewish Daily Forward reported that in Ritter’s Target
Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plan for Regime Change, the
antiwar activist writes: “Let there be no doubt. If there is an American
war with Iran, it is a war that was made in Israel and nowhere else.”
The Bush Administration, with the help of the Israeli government and the
pro-Israel “Lobby,” has exploited the American public’s fear of a
nuclear-armed Iran, Ritter writes in his book, according to the Forward.  
 
The current U.S. military buildup will peak this spring, and Ritter told
the CJN that America would begin a 30-day limited, but massive, air strike
against Iran. Neither Congress nor the corporate-controlled media will
check the president’s power, Ritter maintained.
Iran will retaliate with missiles launched at Israel, Ritter predicted.
The Islamist state will also shut down oil production by blocking the
route out of the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz. And Iran will
unleash Shia Muslims in southern Iraq to target American forces there,
Ritter asserted.
“Now we have a major conflict. We’re caught in a spiral of events out of
our control. After 30 days, the military will be putting Marines in
Hormuz, soldiers in Iran. Israel, especially, stands to lose.”
In 2002, Ritter similarly talked about the likelihood of America launching
a war against Iraq, despite the fact that UN inspectors repeatedly said
Saddam Hussein no longer had weapons of mass destruction.  
 
At the Cleveland Peace Action event, Peck and Ritter talked about the
quagmire in Iraq and the lessons we failed to learn there and apply to
Iran. Much of what Ahmadenijad is accused of saying he has never said,
Ritter insisted. Furthermore, Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
wields the only power to wage war and build nuclear weapons, not
Ahmadenijad.
Sanctions against Iran are “a holding pattern, while revving up for war,”
claimed Peck. “They are a guarantee of armed conflict.” He advocated
diplomatic negotiation instead.
When Congress appropriates $77 million to finance dissident groups to
overthrow the Iranian regime, “that’s an act of war,” Peck continued.
People in the Middle East “are afraid of us. They do not see us as
bringers of truth, justice and harmony.”
Forcing democracy on Middle Eastern countries is not possible, Peck
warned. “Democracy is experiential. Iraqis know nothing about it. It’s
something you grow up with.” The West pushes democracy and then
hypocritically punishes the Palestinians for choosing Hamas in democratic
elections, added Peck, who observed the balloting in the West Bank.  
 
He criticized Israel for occupying the West Bank and for “doing terrible
things” there. “One person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter,” he
said, alluding to suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians.
Most of those audience members who took the microphone to ask questions
bashed Israel for its occupation and brutalization of the Palestinian
people. Several blamed Israel for all conflict in the Middle East.
Pursuing its inhumane policy toward the Palestinian people will not bring
Israel peace, Peck said. “Israel’s security will be derived from good
relations with its neighbors. The future of Israel is at stake.”
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Uh...they are right...and lets not forget the "Samson option" which is
a direct threat to Russia and Europe...which could lead to the
destruction of the United States...I think we should hoodwink Iran and
Russia and allow the destruction of Isreal...Holy war ends.... oil
keeps flowing ....interest rates go down Jewish holdings are released
into the economy as a stimulus program....life goes on....Sounds like
a much happier ending doesn't it?....
I am not a racist but I am a realist....the cost of supporting Isreal
is way too high...and the cost of not supporting them without siezing
Jewish assets would collapse the world economy...The cost of
continueing without drawing the line with these violent, deceitful,
and destructive religious fanatics (orthodox jews/Christians) is what
we pay everyday..blood.
Name one thing that Isreal provides that the world cant do without and
I may change my mind.