8/3/07
Second round of Iran-US talks: Cheney camp pushes for war
CASMII Press Release
The second round of historic US-Iran talks on 24th
July, was held against a background of hyped up and sustained accusations
against Iran. These ranged from Iran's involvement with AlQaeda, to its support
for Sunni insurgents as well as various Shiia militias in Iraq. Iran was accused
on 2nd July briefing of US army General, Bergner, of killing American
servicemen.
The alarming and unanimous passage with 97 votes to
zero by the US Congress of an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill
drafted by the leading proponent of war with Iran, Sen Lieberman, on 11th July,
which accuses Iran of "intolerable acts of hostility towards the US" and demands
the US government to take "Immediate action" can be regarded as the prelude to a
declaration of war.
Gareth Porter, the leading US political analyst, alerts [1] us
to a "new narrative" that "threatens to obscure the bigger picture of Iranian
policy toward Iraq, widely recognized by regional specialists." He quotes Dr.
James A. Russell, lecturer in National Security Affairs at the Naval
Postgraduate School, and a specialist on security affairs in the Persian Gulf
region, that Iran and the US "do indeed share common strategic interests in
Iraq", the problem, is that "the history of the relationship and domestic
political constituencies pose serious obstacles to realizing those common
interests. Two such obstacles are "the very powerful political constituency for
attacking Iran" and support for Israel."
However despite this fraught background, the
realities of the convergence of the Iranian and the US strategic interests in
the establishment of stability in Iraq was demonstrated by the agreement on the
day between the two parties to set up a subcommittee to work on stabilizing
Iraq.
The Iranian government's declaration, following the
meeting, of its willingness to hold higher level dialogue, and the American
government's response of rejecting this prospect, was a barometer of the rapidly
shifting balance and the imprints of the Cheney camp. Allegations of Iranian
involvement in the violence in Iraq which dominated the talks were continued
afterwards by a new accusation on 26th July, two days after the talks, that the
increasingly successful mortar attacks by the militia on the Green Zone in
Baghdad -Capital of a country which had one of the most advanced militaries in
the Middle East- bore the mark of Iranian training!
Such accusations even though rejected by the vast
majority of independent analysts, are by design intended to sabotage the ongoing
negotiations between Iran and the US. They lead to the marginalisation of
pro-dialogue voices in both camps and only serve to create an unnecessarily
heated environment in which it will be ever more difficult for the United States
to secure the help of Iraq’s neighbours in bringing stability to that country
and to the wider Middle East.
Abbas Edalat of CASMII said today: "What is at
stake now with the bilateral talks is not just the resolution of the mayhem in
Iraq but the unravelling of the Iran-US stand off and the prospect of peace
regionally. We now witness the extremely delicate balance holding the
possibility of their success. Tilting one way or another means the possibility
of peace or certainty of war".
CASMII calls on all politicians and decision makers
as well as journalists and media outlets to stand firmly for peace and remain
vigilant of a similar scenario based on false allegations and lies which led to
the invasion of Iraq, this time in play against Iran.
For more information or to contact CASMII
please visit http://www.campaigniran.org
Notes:
... Payvand News - 03/25/16 ... --
