Iran in Crisis? Nuclear Ambitions and the American Response

Rating:
Summary: Attempted justification for attacking Iran
Review:

Howard, a British journalist who covered the attack on Afghanistan for the Daily Mail, has written a book promoting a US attack on Iran.

The US state continually threatens to attack Iran, demanding regime change. Its Iran Democracy Act of 2003 funds opposition groups in Iran, breaking its 1981 agreement not to interfere in Iran's affairs. It backs the blacklisted mujehadin terrorist MKO's efforts to overthrow the Iranian government.

The US state claims that Iran is no democracy. Yet Iran is far more democratic than we are told. It directly elects its President and its city, town and village governments. In 2002 the UN Human Rights Commission voted to remove Iran from its blacklist of countries. Iran's press is freer than most. Women have more rights - 63% of 2002's university intake was female. Schoolgirls no longer have to wear headscarves and robes in school.

Yet Howard parrots the US state's efforts to justify attacking Iran because it might develop a nuclear bomb. He claims there are `good reasons to fear the development of an Iranian nuclear bomb'. Why? Because this would `enhance their security'. Hasn't Iran any right to security? Iran's possession of a bomb would "encourage militants in the region to adopt a yet more aggressive approach against the Israeli Defence Force." So it's not the IDF that's aggressive but its victims!

Howard asserts, quoting Bush, that the USA "has some reason to fear that the regime would transfer warheads into the hands of terrorist networks" and "An Iranian bomb would also be at risk of inadvertently falling into the hands of third parties." This is no more likely than Saddam Hussein letting his enemy bin Laden get the WMD that Saddam didn't have anyway!

In his last two chapters, Howard discusses the "different ways in which Washington could try to engineer political change inside Iran." He calls for `a far-reaching programme of free-market reforms', privatisation, labour market `flexibility', and ending foreign exchange controls. Is he after a job with Bush?

The Iranian people have every right to determine their own future, without fear of attack. Hands off Iran!