The March to War

Condeleeza Rice, on behalf of the Bush Administration, has offered America's own version of an Olive Branch to Iran. Let's take a look:

"The Iranian people believe they have the right to civil nuclear energy. We acknowledge that right. Yet the international agreements Iran has signed make clear that Iran's exercise of that right must conform with its commitments. In view of its previous violations of its commitments and the secret nuclear programme it undertook, the Iranian regime must persuasively demonstrate that it has permanently abandoned its quest for nuclear weapons."

As I've mentioned before, it is quite well documented and known and reported that Iran, though the regime is theocratic and repressive, was very open about its reestablishment of its civil nuclear programme. It was not secret at all. By the strategic addition of "secret" Rice has implanted the idea to distort the public discourse and give ammunition to their allies in the form of Right Wing Political Pundits. I have already reported that their are absolute and deliberate lies that are coming from that side of the political spectrum.

She continues:

"The United States is willing to exert strong leadership to give diplomacy its very best chance to succeed. Thus, to underscore our commitment to a diplomatic solution and to enhance the prospects for success, as soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the United States will come to the table with our EU-3 colleagues and meet with Iran's representatives."

This seems like a reasonable offer from the Bush Administration but consider these points:

1) Iran is a signer of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Within the treaty nations including Iran are allowed to develop civil nuclear programmes under a watchful eye. Iran has reported its intentions and has opened its civil nuclear development programmes to international scrutiny. The is well documented but conveniently under reported within the United States.

2) Pay careful attention to the words "fully and verifiably" with respect to suspending its enrichment activities. Unless you have a very short memory you might recall similar commitments to diplomacy in the Bush Administration's handling of Iraq. The Administration, after repeatedly warning Saddam Hussein to give up Weapons of Mass Destruction, simply ignored reports that Hussein did not have them and went to war anyway. Verification is in the eye of the beholder and the Bush Administration can simply and easily report that any suspension on the part of Iran's nuclear programme is not revealing enough and there are still considerable doubts. This will be easy to justify to the public because of the condition of the regime as a fundamentalist theocracy and repeated and deliberate labelling as a terror state by the Administration. Who would not think they had something to hide?

3) Iran, legally, has not obligation to suspend its enrichment programmes and will probably refuse to do so.

In short, this diplomatic offer is nothing more than smoke and mirrors within the current Administration's continuous march to war.

In the future I would like to consider the likelihood that the United States, as a world power, is in decline.