Weekly Commentary

US Dailies: Take Tehran to UN Security Council

Remarks by Iran’s new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against United States and Israel has unleashed strong international scorn. Both the US House of Representatives and the Senate passed strong resolutions to register their condemnation, several Western capitals summoned Iran’s ambassadors to seek an official explanation, the UN Security Council issued a statement, and on Friday UN General Secretary Kofi Annan canceled his scheduled visit to Iran.

Equally significant has been the opinion of the editorial pages of American dailies. From major national papers to small town dailies, the common theme is the expression of disgust and call for a firm US policy toward Iran. Most papers have called on Washington and the EU capitals to take Iran’s breach of Non-Proliferation Treaty to the UN Security Council. Below is an excerpt of these commentaries:

The Washington Post: A President's Hate Speech
These vile words… send the clearest signal yet that Iran's new government has no intention of seeking accommodation with Europe or the United States, or of accepting a more peaceful Middle East in which Israel lives alongside a democratic Palestinian state... But the crudeness of Mr. Ahmadinejad, and his already evident failure to deliver on his populist promises to raise Iranian living standards, ought to open the way to a different approach. Unlike their president, most young Iranians would like to live in a prosperous and democratic society that enjoys good relations with the West. The West should stand up for that Iran; it can do so by rejecting and isolating the hateful ideologue who would drag the country in the opposite direction.

The Boston Globe: Iran's Threat
What Ahmadinejad said expressed a fanatical mentality, the outlook of a political leader who served as a security boss in Iran's notorious Evin prison after Ayatollah Khomeini came to power and is said by former inmates to have personally finished off executed political prisoners with a bullet to the head... It is not enough for other governments to call in Iran's ambassador… The UN Security Council should demand that Iran retract Ahmadinejad's threats or be suspended from the world body.

The New York Times: The Demagogue in Iran
The trouble is that Iran has a nuclear-weapons program that the combined efforts of the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the International Atomic Energy Agency have failed to halt. Ahmadinejad, moreover, has every reason to feel that everything's going his way: Iran is riding high on soaring oil prices; the United States has neutered its greatest enemy, Iraq, and both Russia and China are prepared to block any serious move toward sanction in the UN Security Council. So why not indulge in some vitriol?

Because now, at last, no one can pretend that Iran has no hostile motives for its nuclear program… there must be no illusions about the ideologue reigning in Tehran.

The Wall street Journal: 'Wiped Off the Map'
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took to a Tehran stage last week to deliver remarks at a conference titled (in English, so there be no mistaking his gist) "A World Without Zionism."… Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments were celebrated by the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, who said Israel's "existence is illegal." Former President Ali Rafsanjani, seen in some diplomatic circles as a pragmatist, also lent his support… More notable has been the intensity of Western reaction… The most incisive comment came from British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "Can you imagine a state like that with an attitude like that having a nuclear weapon?" he asked. In Washington, as in Jerusalem, policy makers have been pondering that question for years. It's past time others ponder it, too.

The Los Angeles Times: Menace in the Mideast
The frightening prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran became even more terrifying last week with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declaration that Israel "must be wiped off the map." The president's vituperative language should make countries not overly concerned by Tehran's nuclear program think twice. It's reasonable to worry that Iran wants to go beyond nuclear power plants to atomic weapons...

Iran already threatens the peace and stability of the Middle East, with its influence over Shiites in Iraq and funding of anti-Israel terrorists... The IAEA last month condemned Iran's nuclear activities and required that Tehran be reported to the U.N. Security Council, but the agency did not say when the referral should occur. Ahmadinejad's comments should advance the timetable and make countries more willing to impose sanctions on Iran.

The Washington Times: Iran and the Failure of Appeasement
If anyone had any doubts about the danger posed by a potential nuclear-armed Islamist regime in Iran -- and the need for the West to develop a more realistic approach to the ruling mullahs -- the Iranian president's call for Israel's destruction should dispel them.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's brazen call for the destruction of another country drives home once again the utter bankruptcy of the European Union's diplomacy-only approach to dealing with the current Iranian regime and its bid to acquire nuclear weapons. It should also spur the United States to revisit the decision made in March to defer to the Europeans and adopt a softer approach to Iran... The Iranian president's call for Israel's destruction is the latest illustration of the fact that the West's current approach to Iran has failed... These developments should be sobering for those who have relied on diplomacy that is not backed up by a credible coercive threat.

The Chicago Tribune: Iran Drops a Bomb
Any delusions about Iran's intentions--nuclear or otherwise--were obliterated on Wednesday when its new president unleashed the verbal equivalent of a mushroom cloud against Israel… It's an unmistakable warning of Iran's intentions that cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric… As Ahmadinejad has made clear, Iran is… in the business of spreading terror, slaughtering innocents and brutally repressing freedoms at home… Anything short of a resounding vote to send Iran to the Security Council for sanctions will be intolerable. Ahmadinejad is doing a fine job of rallying the world against Iran and dispelling any lingering doubts about its intentions to build--and use--nuclear weapons. The only thing clearer would be a mushroom cloud.

New York Newsday: Iran's Racism is Intolerable
Ahmadinejad's speech came just as the United States and France were preparing to ask the UN Security Council to impose diplomatic and economic sanctions on Iran for failing to comply fully with nuclear non-proliferation rules. In light of the call by former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani for a Muslim state to annihilate Israel with a nuclear strike, the White House is fully justified to bring up Iran before the council for punitive sanctions.

San Francisco Chronicle: Anti-Israel Threat is No Iranian Joke
The fanaticism of Ahmadinejad's rhetoric offers no encouragement to those trying to preach moderation to Tehran in the nuclear controversy, headed for a possible showdown in the U.N. Security Council. The Iranian leadership's longstanding association with Middle Eastern terrorism and obsessive animosity toward Israel and "Zionism" are also reasons for worry about the mischief Iran could continue to cause for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Toxic and appalling rhetoric
The head of state's call for obliteration of another state is a dangerous and damning indictment of Iran's ability to be part of the world community… Suggesting the destruction of a state and its people is a violation of international norms, if not laws… Such a threat causes even greater concern when it comes from a renegade nation that craves a nuclear industry.

Detroit News: Given the Opportunity, Iran will Wipe Israel Off the Map
The president's expressed desire to see the Jewish state wiped off the map should make two things clear. First, that Iran's nuclear ambitions have a very specific purpose, and that is to turn Israel into a Jew-free blot… The sentiment expressed by the deranged Iranian should inform U.S. policy in the region. Iran must be stopped at all costs from developing nuclear capability…

Waco Tribune Herald: World must stand against Iran
The leadership in Iran is becoming unhinged. That's a dangerous development… Ahmadinejad has set up a program to register volunteers for martyrdom in Iran's schools for the Holy War against Islam's enemies… Following international condemnation of his outrageous call to wipe Israel off the map, Ahmadinejad said that international scorn meant nothing to him. He said calling for the complete destruction of Israel was “right and just.” … The United Nations Security Council should sanction Iran.

Eugene Register-Guard: A gathering storm
Iran represents more than a potential nuclear threat to Israel. Ahmadinejad heaped praise on Palestinian suicide bombers in his incendiary speech, just hours before the Islamic Jihad bombing in Hadera. Islamic Jihad receives much of its funding from Tehran… it isn't lost on those who seek to inflame tensions in the Middle East that the U.S. military's attention is fully focused on Iraq. The president correctly maintains that peace in the Middle East is of vital importance to U.S. strategic interests, both military and economic. Events now demand a U.S. response designed to protect that peace.

Tennessean: Treat Iran threat seriously
… Apologists for Ahmadinejad, who has been president only three months, insist his statements are merely the sign of an inexperienced leader. And that's supposed to make his word less threatening? White-hot rhetoric plus inexperience may be the worst combination possible. Further, the words do not appear to be the hollow ramblings by one misguided Iranian… The United States must press for greater attention to Iran at the United Nations — while restoring credibility in U.S. warnings at the same time. Iran may pose far greater dangers to the world than a dictator in Iraq had imagined. (USADI)
 

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The US Alliance for Democratic Iran (USADI), is a US-based, non-profit, independent organization, which promotes informed policy debate, exchange of ideas, analysis, research and education to advance a US  policy on Iran which will benefit America’s interests, both at home and in the Middle East, through supporting Iranian people’s  aspirations for a democratic, secular, and peaceful government, free of tyranny, fundamentalism, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism.

USADI supports the Iranian peoples' aspirations for democracy, peace,  human rights, women’s equality, freedom of expression, separation of  church and state, self-determination, control of land and resources,  cultural integrity, and the right to development and prosperity.

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