Iran Nuclear Watch: President Bush Calls Iran President Ahmadinejad a “TYRANT”
AFP: Bush brands Iran leader a ‘tyrant’
US President George W. Bush branded Iran’s president a tyrant and compared leaders in Tehran to Al-Qaeda terrorists who cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
“America will not bow down to tyrants,” he said in the second of a series of election-year speeches defending his handling of the war on terrorism and Iraq. “The world’s free nations will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.”
President Bush has decided to step up the rhetoric against Iran.
Will this be a war of media cycles between Bush and Ahmadinejad?
Probably
And what about some action like United Nations sanctions?
The time has come for sanctions on Iran over its atomic program, the US ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog, Gregory Schulte, pictured March 2006, said
Bush accused Iran of funding the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah and other groups “to attack Israel and America by proxy” and said Hezbollah was second only to Al-Qaeda in the number of US citizens it has killed.
“Like Al-Qaeda and the Sunni extremists, the Iranian regime has clear aims. They want to drive America out of the region, to destroy Israel, and to dominate the broader Middle East,” said the US presidents.
But, he said, Shiite extremists have done something Al-Qaeda only dreams of by taking over Iran in 1979, “subjugating its proud people to a regime of tyranny and using that nation’s resources to fund the spread of terror and to pursue their radical agenda.”
“The Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies have demonstrated their willingness to kill Americans, and now the Iranian regime is pursuing nuclear weapons,” said Bush.
The US president quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying, in an August 15 speech, “If you would like to have good relations with the Iranian nation in the future, bow down before the greatness of the Iranian nation and surrender.”
“If you don’t accept to do this, the Iranian nation will force you to surrender and bow down,” he quoted the Iranian leader as saying.
“America will not bow down to tyrants,” he replied.
Indeed, America WILL NOT.
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The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.
Technorati Tags: Iran, Ahmadinejad, UnitedNations
One Comment
john Carey
Flap and I probably agree that Iran is eventully going to suffer some setback to its nuclear program. The fact that even Russia is chafing at Russia’s incalcitrance wiith the U.S. is a signal of how badly relationaships are strained.
A Few Thoughts: Iran and Russia
By John E. Carey
September 5, 2006
When physicists discuss fluid dynamics they speak about removing one fluid only to find the vessel filled with some other fluid. For example, as you use the gasoline from your car’s tank, the liquid fuel is replaced by a vapor mix of air and gasoline vapor.
International diplomacy has some of these same aspects of fluid dynamics. As the influence of one nation wanes, other nations see opportunities and “fill the void.â€
When the United States is opposed to a regime or government leadership these days, who naturally fills the void? Russia, almost always. And sometimes China or a mix of the two.
Since 1979, when the Iranian hostage crisis commenced, the United States has had no recognized relationship with Iran. In fact, the U.S. has enforced economic sanctions against Iran and has, at times, been on the brink of war more than once. A cat and mouse game between the U.S. Navy and Iran’s forces has been on a slowly moving roller coaster for decades.
When the “fluid†of U.S. influence retreated from Iran, Russia jumped in. This has made for an economically fruitful relationship, especially for Russia. For example, the U.S. prohibits Iran from buying U.S. made aircraft and aircraft parts. No Boeing sales are permitted in Iran. Sop Tehran buys from Russia, mostly Tupelev aircraft and components. This is one of the reasons Iran has such a poor airline safety record: they buy inferior equipment (and they also maintain their equipment very badly).
When I first became involved in Iran, we had a warm and close relationship. While the Shah was still leading Iran, Iran was a huge U.S. ally and the nations cooperated extensively. The armed forces in Iran were modeled after those in the United States and they used mostly U.S. equipment. For example; all of Iran’s fighter aircraft were U.S. built, like F-4s and F-14s.
After the Islamic revolution, all this changed.
And Russia filled the void.
We still suffer from this loss. As Iran’s leaders have move further away from the world mainstream and more into a radical form of Islam, few allies but Russia and other extremist Islam regimes can get along with Iran.
Today, Russia is the leading economic partner of Iran. Russia is also the nation most culpable for assisting Iran with their nuclear ambitions.
Watch for Russia to distance itself from Iran as it becomes more and more evident that military action against Iran is likely.
Then after the military action; expect Russia to run to Iran;s assistance (cashing checks for rebuilding all the way).
This is a kind of fluid dynamic theory of international realtions.