Dubya on Israeli TV: All Options Are On the Table for Iran Nukes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/13/AR2005081300553_pf.html

Bush: All Options Open for Iran Nukes

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
The Associated Press
Saturday, August 13, 2005; 12:06 PM


JERUSALEM -- In a stern warning to Iran, President Bush said "all options are on the table" if the Iranians refuse to comply with international demands to halt their nuclear program, pointedly noting he has already used force to protect U.S. security.

Bush's statement during an interview on Israeli TV late Friday was unusually harsh. He previously said diplomacy should be used to persuade Iran to suspend its nuclear program and if that failed then the U.N. Security Council should impose sanctions.

The U.S. government and others fear Iran's nuclear work is secretly designed to produce nuclear weapons. Iran's leaders deny that, saying it is only for the generation of electricity.

In the interview, Bush said the United States and Israel "are united in our objective to make sure that Iran does not have a weapon."

But, he said, if diplomacy fails "all options are on the table."

"The use of force is the last option for any president. You know, we've used force in the recent past to secure our country," he said.

_____________

And, I say, Bullsh*t! The Downing Street Minutes prove without a doubt that the use of force in Iraq was always Dubya's "first option."

Americans will suck it up

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

and how many will argue that a vote for IWR2 is a vote for authority only, not for war?

Just testing to see if anyone has learned any lessons from Iraq.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/06/08/news_pf/Worldandnation/Nuclear_Iran_on_the_U.shtml

<>"In the last three years, the United States has invaded and overthrown two governments on Iran's border," says Michael Donovan at the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C. "The Iranians are not feeling very secure despite the fact they certainly didn't mind seeing Saddam Hussein's backside."

Donovan, like other experts, thinks the harsh U.S. tone toward Iran might actually be pushing it toward developing nuclear weapons.

<>Ironically, Iran's own nuclear program is said to have started with America's blessing. In the early '70s, the U.S. government encouraged the pro-Western shah of Iran to develop nuclear power as an alternative energy source.

"Americans advised Iran to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity . . . and submitted plans for building power plants. Now they say Iran does not need nuclear power since it has abundant oil and gas," Iran's former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, angrily noted last month.

more...

I trust some DUer can find the link - I have been told by an Iranian engineer (US citizen) that Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has "frequently" spoken out on --
1. Green House Gases and Global Warming
2. Peak Oil
3. A need to conserve fossil fuels to obtain their higher value as chemical feed stocks
4. A concomitant need to use nuclear power instead of fossil fuels.