Village Voice
http://villagevoice.com/news/0603,ridgeway,71804,6.htmlIran Crisis: Cheney Plays the Egypt Card
Vice president deals Mubarak in on nuclear standoff
by James Ridgeway
January 17th, 2006 5:06 PM
WASHINGTON, D.C.--With both Russia and China seeking to quiet the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program, Vice President Dick Cheney’s current visit to the Middle East, where he met with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak Tuesday, seems likely to make matters worse. Talk of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran, supported loudly by some in the U.S. Congress, is playing badly overseas.
And the sanctions aren’t failing just in the Middle East, either. "Sanctions are not the best or the only way to solve international problems," Sergei Lavrov, the Soviet foreign minister said in Moscow on Tuesday. "The question of sanctions against Iran puts the cart before the horse," news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying.
According to the Iraqi press, Cheney was expected to broach the possibility of Egypt’s sending troops to Iraq--as a last resort--along with other units from countries in the Arab League. Cheney is expected to raise the same idea in Saudi Arabia.
The thinking is that Egypt can be drawn into a confrontation with Iran because of its close proximity and because Egypt's leaders would be happy to come down hard against any Shiite radicals working out of Iran and bent on causing trouble in Egypt. This all comes from Juan Cole, the Mideast expert who teaches at the University of Michigan and keeps a Web page.