Month: September 2010

from LobeLog: News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for September 15th, 2010:

The Washington Post: Thomas Erdbrink reports on comments made Tuesday by former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in which the cleric criticized the government for not taking U.S.-led sanctions seriously and warned that Iran could become a dictatorship. “The remarks by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani represent a rebuke of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though Rafsanjani did not mention him by name,” writes Erdbrink. The Iranian government maintains that sanctions have strengthened Iran, but Rafasanjani, speaking at the influential clerical council, said, “I would like to ask you and all the country’s officials to take the sanctions seriously and not as a joke.” Rafsanjani is seen as a major force behind the opposition Green Movement and longstanding rival of Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad has faced increasing criticism from all strata of the Iranian political system.

Washington Post: The Post picks up an AP article by George Jahn chronicling the U.S.’s request that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) take “appropriate action” in response to alleged Iranian intimidation of nuclear inspectors. The message was delivered to the IAEA in Vienna by Glyn Davies, the U.S. representative to the UN’s nuclear watchdog. The request for “action” came after Iran barred two inspectors several months ago. Jahn reports that Iran’s representative to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, accused the agency and its director general, Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano, of “entering into a political game of certain countries,” a clear shot at the U.S. and its allies. Reuters has reported similar comments from the head of Iran’s atomic program, Ali Akbar Salehi. Earlier this week, Amano said Iran had not provided “necessary cooperation” that would allow the IAEA to ensure that the Iranian nuclear program is peaceful. Salehi responded yesterday that, if Amano knew what he was implying, “he made a big mistake which is very dangerous because it indicates that he has been under political pressure.” Iran, which like all participants in inspections, is entitled to approve inspectors, last banned particular inspectors in 2007, after the IAEA reported Iran to the UN Security Council.

Huffington Post: John Feffer, the co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) at the Institute for Policy Studies, has a new post up outlining some basics of Iran’s conflict with the West and pointing to FPIF pieces about how war with Iran is avoidable. The piece is a solid primer of where the sides stand now and where they are coming from. Feffer thinks a U.S. or Israeli strike is not likely, nor does he think economic and other international sanctions will work. An expert on North Korea, Feffer makes this apt observation: “The Bush administration’s failure to continue Clinton’s engagement of North Korea shows us what happens with the isolation strategy. With no other options, North Korea simply pushed ahead with its nuclear program.” Obama should wait until after the political dust of the mid-term U.S. Congressional elections settles, writes Feffer, then use help from third parties such as Turkey to cut a deal with Tehran.

from LobeLog: News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for September 14th, 2010:

Reuters: Louis Charbonneau reports Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to attend a UN-meeting next week on moving forward global disarmament talks, which have been stalled for the past 12 years, during the annual General Assembly gathering of global leaders. “The schedule has not been firmly set, but I understand [Ahmadinejad] is going to participate in the high-level meeting on disarmament,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters. It is not clear who will be the U.S. delegate. President Obama, who has identified nuclear disarmament a major foreign policy initiative of his first term, will probably be attending other meetings.

The Washington Post: Thomas Erdbrink reports Iranian authorities released American hiker Sara Shourd on bail who then boarded a plane to meet family in Oman. Shourd and two other American hikers were arrested last year when they reportedly crossed into Iran from northern Iraq. All three of the hikers face espionage related charges but Shourd, who has been reported to be in poor health, has been permitted to leave Iran on $500,000 bail. Iran has indicated Shourd’s two hiking companions will be detained for at least another two months. Shourd is obliged to return to Iran for future legal proceedings.

Foreign Policy: Robert Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), an often hawkish spin-off of AIPAC, observes Obama’s biggest test in Middle East peacemaking will how he deals with “the regional challenge that poses the most serious consequences for Middle East security” — Iran’s nuclear program. Only with a clearly articulated policy will the U.S. have enough regional clout to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, he argues. Satloff comments, without evidence, that Obama has abandoned ‘linkage’ and espouses in its place ‘reverse linkage.‘ Experts doubt sanctions will work, he says, which “leaves U.S. military power as the last repository of credibility” for a U.S. commitment to stopping an Iranian bomb. He concludes that “U.S. action to prevent Iran’s march toward a nuclear weapons capability would buoy America’s friends and undermine its adversaries from Morocco through the Persian Gulf.”

New York Times: ‘Politicus’ columnist John Vinocur questions the direction of Obama’s leadership on Iran. Citing some hawks, including neocon Robert Kagan, Vinocur focuses on Obama’s August meeting with journalists where the President touted his record on sanctions (summed up in our August 5th Talking Points). He notes ahead of that briefing, CIA director Leon Panetta, his predecessor Michael Hayden, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen all seemed to hint about the possibility of a U.S. strike against Iran. Only, writes Vinocur, “nothing was reported among the president’s comments to match it in substance or tonality.” Carnegie Endowment official George Perkovich told Vinocur, “it would be desirable for the United States to have credible use of force in relation to Iran, but in my view we do not.” Vinocur cites Tony Blair’s recent blustering and draws the conclusion that “American leadership is difficult to detect.”

Antiwar Radio won’t appear for the rest of the week. Scott is taking a much-deserved vacation.

The 9/11 Commission was one of the biggest frauds of a fraudulent decade. Here’s an excellent list of sources from “Washington’s Blog” on why the Commission’s report was a scam. (H/t Tom Blanton) Here’s a piece I did a few years ago detailing some of the charades of that farce of an “independent” commission. (Simply because the feds have lied up and down for years about 9/11 doesn’t prove that the government did it.)

Portland protestors finally gave the 9/11 Commission Report the respect it deserved.

Here’s the YouTube video clip of the toasting – -the discussion of Portland starts about 2 minutes into the clip.

Here’s another YouTube video of another 9/11 report burning by Pat Jaynes, along with his sidekick Deborah doing the filming and adding very good snark.

The 9/11 Commission report was also burnt by Rogan McIntyre in California on Saturday as well. Here is a picture Rogan took with his Iphone (he said he’ll use a different camera next year). Rogan notes: “I actually printed the entire commission out from the internet and burned 585 pages in my tiny firepit in my back yard. It took some cleaning in the middle of the work because the ashes were getting to be a bit much.”

from LobeLog: News and Views Relevant to U.S.-Iran relations for September 13th, 2010:

Wall Street Journal: Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz, respectively a Senior Fellow and Executive Director at the neoconservative Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, point out that while sanctions have led to decreased trade between some American allies (European countries and Japan) and Iran, China and Russia will continue to fill “the void” unless America punishes their “subversiveness.” The authors call on the U.S. to bar domestic business with subsidiaries of Russian and Chinese energy companies involved in Iran, force, block them from receiving U.S. contracts and state pension fund divestment from their businesses. They acknowledge ”any U.S. action will surely infuriate Moscow and Beijing, as well as those in Washington who have worked to ‘reset’ our relations with both countries.” But they see the alternative as “collapsing our Iran policy.” They conclude by raising the specter of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities should the U.S. fail its “test of wills with Russia and China over Iran”, noting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will decide one of these days whether a nuclear-armed Iran is acceptable, or not.”

Los Angeles Times: The L.A. Times has a piece by Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daraghi, accompanied online by an AP video, on the possible release of Sarah Shroud. Shroud is one of the three American hikers arrested on espionage charges near the Iraq-Iran border more than a year ago. Her release that was scheduled for last Saturday, initially portrayed by Iran as an act of clemency to mark the end of Ramadan, has been delayed. Bail is now set at $500,000, according to both a lawyer for the hikers and the prosecutor. The U.S. government and their families have denied that the hikers are spies. Daraghi and Mostaghim note the prosecutor “told reporters that Iran had enough evidence to prove the three were spies and the ‘Americans have responded too,’ hinting at possible behind-the-scenes diplomatic communications between Iran and the U.S. over the hikers.”

Reuters: IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano said on Monday that, “Iran’s repeated objection to the designation of inspectors with experience in Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle and facilities hampers the inspection process.” Iran insists the two inspectors were banned from entering the country in June because they have provided false information about the Iranian nuclear program. The IAEA and the US argue that Iran’s actions are an attempt to limit the monitoring capabilities of the UN’s nuclear watchdog. Tehran has cited its right to refuse access for specific inspectors under the non-proliferation accord with the IAEA.

Reuters: William Maclean reports that according to Mikhail Marelov, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Federation Council of Russia, his country’s support of Iran’s nuclear energy program is intended to encourage Iranian compliance with the IAEA. “That is why, if we cooperate with Iran in the field of nuclear energy when we do Bushehr, this is how we try to keep these guys playing by the rules of the IAEA,” Maretov told the International Institute of International Studies think tank. Moscow is finding it difficult to balance trade with Iran and improved relations with the US. Iran continues to express anger over Russia’s refusal to veto the sanctions while the US and European Union are calling on Russia to put more pressure on Iran to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons program.

The Daily Beast: Philip Shenon reports that the 9/11 Commission overlooked “explosive material” suggesting connections between the 9/11 attacks and the Iranian government. The 9/11 Commission, says Shenon, concentrated its research on CIA and FBI terrorism files and mostly ignored the NSA archives. Not until the end of the investigation did the Commission search NSA. Its belatedly acquired findings on Iran resulted in “the Iran material was forced into the commission’s final report with limited context and without any chance for followup by the commission; the panel was about to shut down.” An anonymous “former commission staff member” told Shenon, “”It’s kind of shocking to me that no one has tried to get back in there since. We certainly didn’t see everything at NSA.”