The following article appeared in the Gulf News daily (published in the UAE). It was interesting so I would like to share it here:

The US and Israel have yet to retract their claws when it comes to Iran. The recently published US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) clearly states Tehran doesn’t have a nuclear weapons programme, which logically should dampen fears.

But instead of drawing comfort from the findings of 16 US intelligence agencies, George W. Bush and Ehud Olmert are out there hyping up a non-existent threat, while their sycophants work hard at blowing as many holes in the NIE as they can.

US President George W. Bush’s skewed logic goes like this. According to the NIE, in 2003, Iran abandoned a covert nuclear programme, which it could decide to reconstitute at any time. Therefore, he says, Iran remains a danger to the world.

He also stated that at the time he made his ‘third world war’ speech he was in the dark as to the NIE’s conclusions. “Nobody told me,” he said with a straight face.

Few are biting, especially since the veteran investigate reporter Seymour Hersh reported in July last year that “American and European intelligence agencies have not found specific evidence of clandestine activities or hidden facilities” in Iran.

Then, in November 2006, Hersh announced on CNN that his sources had told him about a classified draft CIA assessment that arrived at the same conclusion. Is it conceivable that a reporter was in possession of the facts, while the US president was kept out of the loop?

Hersh insists the intelligence “has been circulating inside this government at the highest levels for the last year and probably longer”.

The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is similarly in denial. A nuke-free Iran was not what he wanted to hear when he, like Bush, has been pushing China, Russia and Western allies to ratchet-up anti-Iranian UN sanctions.

Moreover, in the event Israel harboured plans to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, in the absence of a nuclear smoking gun, these will now have to be shelved.

Israel will work together with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to expose the Iranian military’s plan to develop a nuclear weapon, he said. Problem is IAEA Director-General Mohammad Al Baradei, head of the nuclear watchdog, has consistently rebutted accusations that Tehran has any such intentions and been heavily criticised by the US for so doing.

In Iran, the intelligence estimate was a cause for celebration. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rightly felt vindicated, while heads of state in this part of the world were relieved.

Dispatched

But it wasn’t long before the US Defence Minister Bob Gates was dispatched to the region to stir the anti-Iranian pot before America’s allies became complacent. He was no doubt concerned that for the first time Gulf States had invited Iran to attend a regional security conference.

In the event, Iran passed up the invitation but despite the absence of this major player, GCC countries signalled their wish for dialogue with Iran and rejected any military option.

“We want the military factor to be eliminated,” said the GCC’s Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al Attiyah. “What we care for in the GCC is finding solutions that enhance security and stability and we believe in dialogue as a way to solve this crisis.”

Iraqi leaders who attended the summit were like-minded, urging the US to engage with Tehran else risk regional insecurity. The Iraqi Vice-President Tariq Al Hashemi said he believes Iran holds the key for stability and peace within the region and stressed that “the nuclear issue should be sorted out in round-table discussions”.

Let’s be realistic for a moment. Iran hasn’t invaded another country for hundreds of years, hasn’t been belligerent towards its neighbours and, according to the Western intelligence community, doesn’t have a nuclear weapons programme. So where exactly is the threat?

While it’s true that Ahmadinejad has made unfriendly noises towards Israel even if tomorrow a bundle of nuclear warheads descended like manna from the skies, he could hardly use them against the Jewish state without harming Palestinians, Syrians, Egyptians and Lebanese.

Surely, the real and present danger to this region is Israel, which, unlike Iran, possesses an actual nuclear arsenal, is occupying Arab land and launched a war against a neighbour just last year, resulting in thousands of dead and maimed Lebanese civilians.

Of course, Gates would beg to differ. When asked about Israel’s nukes he said they posed no threat to the region. Oh well. At least he provided the delegates with a good chuckle by all accounts.

Whatever the US and Israel are up to it’s clear their leaders are being duplicitous. They’re determined to go after Iran whatever the circumstances and whatever the consequences to people here.

Only when this region stands together and speaks forcibly with one voice will foreigners, hungry for natural resources and power, be kept at bay.

If the unthinkable were to happen the entire world would be negatively affected but the biggest losers in terms of victims and devastated economies would be the countries in our neck of the woods. It mustn’t be allowed to happen.

Courtesy: Gulf News ( http://www.gulfnews.com )