Friday, 18 February 2005Janine Zacharia
US President George W. Bush sidestepped a question on Thursday on whether he believed Israel would strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, but expressed understanding for Israel's anxiety about the possibility of Teheran obtaining nuclear weapons capability.
Speaking at a news conference where he announced US Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte would become the new national director of intelligence, Bush stressed that the US would "support Israel if its security is threatened."
He also said he still favored a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear question.
Addressing the Iran question and a possible Israeli strike, Bush said, "If I was the leader of Israel and I listened to some of the statements by the Iranian ayatollahs about... the security of my country, I'd be concerned about Iran having a nuclear weapon as well... And, in that Israel is our ally, in that we've made a very strong commitment to support Israel, we will support Israel if their security is threatened."
"There's a need for us to work together to convince the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon," Bush added. "And we will work with Europeans and the Israelis to develop a strategy and a plan that is effective. And that's one of the reasons I'm going to Europe."
He avoided the controversy sparked by Vice President Dick Cheney's comments last month that Israel "might well decide to act first" against Iran's nuclear program, "and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards."
Cheney's comments triggered confusion as to whether the White House was endorsing, or warning against, a possible Israeli strike on Iran.
Bush said he would discuss what to do about Iran and Syria with European allies when he travels to Europe next week. Bush's trip will include stops in Brussels for meetings with NATO and EU leaders, Germany and Slovakia, where he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US has refused to engage in negotiations led by France, Germany and the UK to try to persuade Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program.
As rhetoric has heated up in recent weeks between the US and Iran over Iranian nukes, the Senate Intelligence Committee has launched an examination of American intelligence on Iran as part of an effort to avoid the problems that plagued America's prewar assessments on Iraq, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month.
David Kay, the former US weapons inspector, has also warned the US not to make the same mistake it made with regard to Iraq's suspected weapons program.
"It's amazing that we're talking about military action against Iran and we don't have a national intelligence estimate that shows what we do know, what we don't know and the basis for what we think we know," he said earlier this month.
In his news conference Thursday, Bush also criticized Syria, saying it "is out of step with the progress being made in the greater Middle East." "This is a country that isn't moving with the democratic movement" spreading throughout the Middle East, he said.
The assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri this week prompted a barrage of US criticism of Syria and intensified calls for Damascus to end its presence in Lebanon. Washington has been exploring imposing fresh sanctions on Syria. |
Friday, 18 February 2005
Jerusalem Post
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