Iranian nukes not the real issue (neocon power is)

[Bruden]

For insight into the real aims of the Bush administration in pushing the issue of Iranian access to nuclear technology to a crisis point, one can turn to Tom Donnelly of the American Enterprise Institute, a neo-conservative think-tank. Donnelly was the deputy executive director of the Project for the New American Century from 1999 to 2002, and was the main author of "Rebuilding America's Defenses".

That paper was written for Cheney and Rumsfeld during the transition following Bush's election and had the participation of four prominent figures who later took positions in the administration: Stephen Cambone, Lewis Libby, Paul Wolfowitz and John Bolton.

snip

Contrary to the official line depicting Iran as a radical state threatening to plunge the region into war, Donnelly refers to Iran as "more the status quo power" in the region in relation to the United States. Iran, he explains, "stands directly athwart this project of regional transformation". Up to now, he observes, the Iranian regime has been "incapable of stemming the seeping US presence in the Persian Gulf and in the broader region". And the invasion of Iraq "completed the near-encirclement of Iran by US military forces".

snip

The "greatest danger", according to Donnelly, is that the "realists" would "pursue a 'balance of power' approach with a nuclear Iran, undercutting the Bush 'liberation strategy'". Although Donnelly doesn't say so explicitly, it would undercut that strategy primarily by ruling out a US attack on Iran as part of a "regime change" strategy.



http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HE13Ak01.html

[Ian David]

1. Don't forget Halliburton is aiding Iran's nuke program. n/t