Fears of retaliation helped block Israeli strike on Iran

PETER O’NEIL, MAX HARROLD of The Gazette and AFP contributed to this report, Canwest News Service

Published: 3 hours ago

Fears of retaliation helped block Israeli strike on Iran

 

U.S. President George W. Bush refused to support a proposed Israeli air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities this year partly due to fear of failure – and possible retaliation – the British newspaper The Guardian reported yesterday

http://tinyurl.com/4x9dql

 

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Israel more dangerous than the West

Associated Press

Saturday, September 27, 2008 (Tehran) A former Iranian president warned the West that its support for Israel would backfire. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is still considered influential in Iranian politics, said the US, Britain and France back Israel and this is dangerous

http://tinyurl.com/4qdhtg

‘In Iran, freedom is absolute’

‘In Iran, freedom is absolute’

September 23, 2008

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in New York this week to address the United Nations General Assembly. He sat down at the Grand Hyatt hotel with Times’ Managing Editor Davan Maharaj, Foreign Editor Bruce Wallace and Jerusalem Bureau Chief Richard Boudreaux. What follows is an edited transcript of their interview

The Bush administration is coming to an end. The U.N. Security Council is divided and does not seem inclined to impose new sanctions on Iran. As you come to the U.N., do you feel like you are winning this confrontation with the U.S.?

We generally do not welcome confrontations. Mr. Bush’s administration has not only harmed the people of the United States but people all around the world. The principles that were pursued in addressing the propaganda around the Iranian nuclear issue were wrong and incorrect to begin with

 It was a huge lie

You have said repeatedly that the state of Israel should disappear from the map. What action does Iran plan to take to bring about the result of Israel’s disappearance? Or is this just nothing more than talk?

Iran has made its proposal loud and clear: We’re calling for free referendums for the Palestinian nation to determine their own government. This will be reflected in a proposal which we will soon submit to the U.N. secretary-general. Palestine constitutes a nation that has lived there for hundreds if not actually thousands of years. Now, with the pre-planned thinking, [Israel has] actually displaced over 5 million people from their own lands and collected other people elsewhere from the world and has put them in their place. How is it possible to recognize a state that has come about as such?

http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-ahmadinejad23-2008sep23,0,157338.story

 

Rabbis Say Iran Seeks Peace, Respects Judaism – Calls for True Dialogue With Ahmadinejad

Rabbis Say Iran Seeks Peace, Respects Judaism – Calls for True Dialogue With Ahmadinejad

A Counter demonstration will take place against protestors of the Iranian President Date: TODAY! Monday, September 22, 2008 Time: 12:00 noon Place: Second Ave. between 46th and 47th Streets (Dag Hammarskjold Plaza) in NYC

NEW YORK, Sept 22, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, spokesman of Neturei Karta International, issued the following statement on the eve of the arrival of the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

"Judaism seeks peace. Unfortunately, there are some Jews today, influenced by the barely century old, philosophy of Zionism, who feel that the proper Jewish response to enemies, be they real or fantasized, is aggression and calls for violence and unfortunately attempts to drag other nations down the path of war."

http://tinyurl.com/4xu8fo

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/rabbis-say-iran-seeks-peace/story.aspx?guid=%7B9C09C358-9247-4DAD-943C-B529F8EAA48A%7D&dist=hppr

Iran’s President Denies Hostility to Israelis

 IranIran’s President Denies Hostility to Israelis

“We have no problem with people and nations,” he said. “Of course, we do not recognize a government or a nation for the Zionist regime.”

Abedin Taherkenareh/European

 Pressphoto Agency

Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,

at a press conference at

 the presidential office in Teheran, Iran

http://tinyurl.com/4zn5s3

Bush overstates threat posed by a nuclear Iran

Nuclear fear

By Ward Wilson

September 14, 2008

Strength is often judged by how you carry yourself. Are you cocky and shouting? Or measured and calm? The Bush administration is acting more cocky than calm, not like the leaders of a superpower but like unsure freshmen

http://tinyurl.com/6kxxng

Howard Zinn: American Empire Is ‘Crumbling’

Howard Zinn: American Empire Is ‘Crumbling’

Editor’s note: Al Jazeera speaks to Howard Zinn, the author, American historian, social critic and activist, about how the Iraq war damaged attitudes towards the US and why the US "empire" is close to collapse

http://www.alternet.org/democracy/98336/

China Calls for Peaceful Resolution of Nuclear Standoff

China Calls for Peaceful Resolution of Nuclear Standoff

By EDWARD WONG

Published: September 6, 2008

BEIJING — President Hu Jintao of China urged other nations on Saturday to negotiate a resolution to Iran’s nuclear issue during a meeting with Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, making clear again that China disapproves of any move by Western countries to attack Iran with military force

Mr. Hu met with Mr. Ahmadinejad on Saturday in the Great Hall of the People here after Mr. Ahmadinejad flew into Beijing to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, which began in the evening

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/world/asia/07china.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y