President Bush Raised The Possibility Of Military Action Against Iran
guardian.co.uk
Wednesday June 11 2008
President George Bush raised the possibility today of military action against Iran, saying his first choice was for a diplomatic solution to the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme, but that “all options are on the table”.
The prospects of a diplomatic breakthrough look slim, however, with Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today labelling his US counterpart a “wicked man” whose policies had failed.
Bush’s comments at a press conference alongside the German chancellor, Angela Merkel – who appeared to support his view – came a day after a US-EU summit in Slovenia threatened new sanctions against Iran if it fails to end its uranium enrichment programme.
“The first choice is to solve it diplomatically and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Bush told reporters in Meseberg, a German government rural retreat 40 miles north of Berlin. “The message to the Iranian government is very clear.”
But, he added, “all options are on the table”.
Bush, for whom Germany is the second stop on a final visit to Europe before he steps down as president, wants Iran to halt uranium enrichment in a verifiable way, claiming the nuclear material is intended for atomic weapons. Iran insists its nuclear programme is for purely civil purposes.
Merkel, a strong US ally, reiterated Germany’s support for possible new sanctions against Iran if it does not suspend enrichment.
“The offer has been put to Iran, but … if Iran does not meet its commitments, then further sanctions will have to follow,” she said. “We again said we want to give diplomacy a chance, but we also have to stay on that particular issue.”
The two leaders also discussed climate change, Afghanistan, rising food prices and the tortuous progress of World Trade Organisation talks.
Bush is in Rome tomorrow for talks with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, ahead of a meeting the next day with Pope Benedict XVI. After a stopover for more talks in Paris he heads to London on Sunday followed by Belfast.
With Bush’s presidency winding down rapidly before he leaves office in January the trip has attracted relatively little media interest and – unlike previous occasions he has been in Europe – almost nothing in the way of protests.
Addressing a crowd in the central Iranian city of Shahr-e-Kord, Ahmadinejad mocked Bush as a lame duck leader whose time “has come to an end”.
“This wicked man desires to harm the Iranian nation,” he said. “[Bush] made plans, moved into Afghanistan and then Iraq, and announced that Iran was the third target.
“I tell him your era has come to an end. With the grace of God, you won’t be able to harm even one centimetre of the sacred land of Iran.”
Iran would remain implacable against international pressure, he insisted: “If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong. With God’s help, we have achieved victory and the enemies cannot do a damned thing.”
About this articleClose This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Wednesday June 11 2008. It was last updated at 12:44 on June 11 2008.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
OK, attacking Iran, whether limited to nuke sites or an overall ass kicking, it’s gonna cause lots of heartache and difficulties across the globe. But, since it will have to be done sooner or later, we might as well do it now and minimize the negatives.
There have been many discussions over the last 60 years about what would have happened if France or England would have addressed the Nazi threat before the Nazis addressed it with them. I think this is the same thing. Do we want to have a discussion in 20, 30 or a 100 years about how we could have avoided nuclear conflict with Iran by taking care of the threat while it was still manageable. Do we want our children’s children looking back at us thinking we were a nation, a world, of Chamberlain’s?
June 11th, 2008 at 6:22 am“threatened new sanctions against Iran if it fails to end its uranium enrichment programme.”
Sanctions, sanctions, sanctions. Yeah, they really are working…HA. What reason in the world does Iran have to stop enriching uranium? None, really. Nobody has taken any real tough action against them. Hell, we wont even blow their little rubber speedboats out of the water. If I were that little fucking Hitler over there, I’d be enriching like no other, and laughing the whole time I was doing it. If I were him, I’d be laughing even harder when I shoot that nuke at Israel and kill hundreds of thousands with it. I’d laugh because everyone knew I was going to do it, and did do it, and never had to fight for a day to get it done.
We need to attack the fuck out of Iran so this little fucking pig doesn’t get his way, kill millions of innocents, and start WWIII. Attack swiftly, fiercely, and attack NOW!
June 11th, 2008 at 7:23 amLook…these are my thoughts about sanctions.
We sanctioned the piss out of Saddam AFTER we bombed the shit out of his military. Saddam withstood far greater sanctions for ten full years. Yet, these pansy-assed cocksmokers think that sanctions are going to stop Iran.
In ten years of sanctionbs, Iran will build hundreds of nukes (let’s not forget arming terrs with radiological dirty bombs) and what will those sanctions buy us?? NOTHING!!
I say that we need to nip this one in the bud like RFN and NOT after the Iranians get nukes.
June 11th, 2008 at 8:17 am