'Bush intends to attack Iran'
Pastor Dale Morgan
May 20, 2008 11:00 | Updated May 20, 2008 22:25
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'Bush intends to attack Iran'*
Israel's Army Radio cites unnamed U.S. official
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The White House on Tuesday flatly denied an Army Radio report that
claimed US President George W. Bush intends to attack Iran before the
end of his term. It said that while the military option had not been
taken off the table, the administration preferred to resolve concerns
about Iran's push for a nuclear weapon "through peaceful diplomatic means."
Army Radio had quoted a top official in Jerusalem claiming that a senior
member in the entourage of President Bush, who visited Israel last week,
had said in a closed meeting here that Bush and Vice President Dick
Cheney were of the opinion that military action against Iran was called for.
The official reportedly went on to say that, for the time being, "the
hesitancy of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice" was preventing the administration from deciding to
launch such an attack on the Islamic Republic.
The Army Radio report, which was quoted by The Jerusalem Post and
resonated widely, stated that according to assessments in Israel, the
recent turmoil in Lebanon, where Hizbullah has established de facto
control of the country, was advancing an American attack.
Bush, the official reportedly said, considered Hizbullah's show of
strength evidence of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's growing
influence. In Bush's view, the official said, "the disease must be
treated - not its symptoms."
However, the White House on Tuesday afternoon dismissed the story. In a
statement, it said that "[the US] remain[s] opposed to Iran's ambitions
to obtain a nuclear weapon. To that end, we are working to bring tough
diplomatic and economic pressure on the Iranians to get them to change
their behavior and to halt their uranium enrichment program."
It went on: "As the president has said, no president of the United
States should ever take options off the table, but our preference and
our actions for dealing with this matter remain through peaceful
diplomatic means. Nothing has changed in that regard."
In an interview last week in the Oval Office, Bush told the Post that
"Iran is an incredibly negative influence" and "the biggest long-term
threat to peace in the Middle East," but that the US was "pushing back
hard and will continue to do so."
He noted that "Iran is involved in funding Hamas and Hizbullah, and it's
that Iranian influence which I'm deeply concerned about. But there needs
to be more than just the United States concerned about it."
Bush said: "We take [seriously] this issue of [Iran] getting the
technology, the know-how on how to develop a nuclear weapon."
"All options are on the table," he said, but, "Of course you want to try
to solve this problem diplomatically."
Asked whether the Iranians would be deterred from their nuclear drive by
the time he left office, Bush told the Post: "What definitely will be
done [before I leave office will be the establishment of] a structure on
how to deal with this, to try to resolve this diplomatically. In other
words sanctions, pressures, financial pressures. You know, a history of
pressure that will serve as a framework to make sure other countries are
involved."
Days later, in his address to the Knesset, Bush said that "the president
of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages" and
"America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons
ambitions."
"Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's
deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future
generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to
have a nuclear weapon," he said.