Saber Rattling in Tehran
By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
I've previously written about how Iran continued the long process of back-tracking from its moves toward moderation when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reaffirmed the fatwa against Salman Rushdie by referring to Rushdie as an apostate whose blood may be shed with impunity.
Many concerns have been expressed about Iran's nuclear program. An Iran armed with nuclear weapons -- given what we know about the nature of that country's regime -- would be bad news for the world. Yesterday, Israeli intelligence announced that it expects Iran's nuclear program to reach the "point of no return" by the end of the year, at which point Iran may be capable of enriching uranium for military purposes.
Iran chimed in today with some saber-rattling. Brigadier-General Mohammad-Ali Jafari, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, was quoted today as saying, "We will counter any stupid action by Israel and its master [the United States] with firmness and in an astonishing way." Referring to the 1980-88 war with Iraq, Jafari stated, "We pushed the Baathist enemy from our country within one and a half years. With the experience and skills from that war and in the case of any invasion, the invaders will be defeated in less than one and a half months."
The Bush administration is obviously concerned about Iran's nuclear program. President Bush has said that he could not rule out the use of force if Tehran refuses to rein in its nuclear program, while Vice President Cheney has warned that Israel might launch a pre-emptive strike on its own to take out Iran's nuclear capabilities.
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