[Anyone] David Barsamian in Taos, July 18

[Thos Myers]

Peace Action New Mexico
presents
David Barsamian
speaking on

Targeting Iran
David Barsamian has recently returned from the Middle East. He is the
host of the syndicated Alternative Radio, aired on KRZA on Fridays at
1PM and KUNM on Saturdays at 6PM. He is the recipient of the Upton
Sinclair Award, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center Award and
has been honored with a Cultural Freedom Fellowship from the Lannan
Foundation, Santa Fe. His latest book, Targeting Iran, presents the
perspectives of three experts on Iran and U.S. foreign policy who
discuss the 1953 CIA coup and the rise of the Islamic regime; Iran's
internal dynamics and competing forces; relations with Iraq and
Afghanistan; and the consequences of U.S. policy.

Wednesday . July 18  .  6:30 pm

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative Board Room
118 Cruz Alta Road, Taos

For information, 751-3634

Additional information:
Ewen MacAskill in Washington and Julian Borger
Monday July 16, 2007
The Guardian


While Dick Cheney, left, favours military threats, Condoleezza Rice,
centre, prefers diplomacy. George Bush, right, has sided with Cheney.
Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

The balance in the internal White House debate over Iran has shifted back
in favour of military action before President George Bush leaves office in
18 months, the Guardian has learned.

The shift follows an internal review involving the White House, the
Pentagon and the state department over the last month. Although the Bush
administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran. A
well-placed source in Washington said: "Bush is not going to leave office
with Iran still in limbo."


Article continues
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The White House claims that Iran, whose influence in the Middle East has
increased significantly over the last six years, is intent on building a
nuclear weapon and is arming insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The vice-president, Dick Cheney, has long favoured upping the threat of
military action against Iran. He is being resisted by the secretary of
state, Condoleezza Rice, and the defence secretary, Robert Gates.

Last year Mr Bush came down in favour of Ms Rice, who along with Britain,
France and Germany has been putting a diplomatic squeeze on Iran. But at a
meeting of the White House, Pentagon and state department last month, Mr
Cheney expressed frustration at the lack of progress and Mr Bush sided
with him. "The balance has tilted. There is cause for concern," the source
said this week.

Nick Burns, the undersecretary of state responsible for Iran and a career
diplomat who is one of the main advocates of negotiation, told the meeting
it was likely that diplomatic manoeuvring would still be continuing in
January 2009. That assessment went down badly with Mr Cheney and Mr Bush.

"Cheney has limited capital left, but if he wanted to use all his capital
on this one issue, he could still have an impact," said Patrick Cronin,
the director of studies at the International Institute for Strategic
Studies.

The Washington source said Mr Bush and Mr Cheney did not trust any
potential successors in the White House, Republican or Democratic, to deal
with Iran decisively. They are also reluctant for Israel to carry out any
strikes because the US would get the blame in the region anyway.

"The red line is not in Iran. The red line is in Israel. If Israel is
adamant it will attack, the US will have to take decisive action," Mr
Cronin said. "The choices are: tell Israel no, let Israel do the job, or
do the job yourself."

Almost half of the US's 277 warships are stationed close to Iran,
including two aircraft carrier groups. The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise
left Virginia last week for the Gulf. A Pentagon spokesman said it was to
replace the USS Nimitz and there would be no overlap that would mean three
carriers in Gulf at the same time.

No decision on military action is expected until next year. In the
meantime, the state department will continue to pursue the diplomatic
route.

Sporadic talks are under way between the EU foreign policy chief, Javier
Solana, and Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, on the
possibility of a freeze in Iran's uranium enrichment programme. Tehran has
so far refused to contemplate a freeze, but has provisionally agreed to
another round of talks at the end of the month.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, has
said that there are signs of Iran slowing down work on the enrichment
plant it is building in Natanz. Negotiations took place in Tehran last
week between Iranian officials and the IAEA, which is seeking a full
accounting of Iran's nuclear activities before Tehran disclosed its
enrichment programme in 2003. The agency's deputy director general, Olli
Heinonen, said two days of talks had produced "good results" and would
continue.

At the UN, the US, Britain and France are trying to secure agreement from
other security council members for a new round of sanctions against Iran.
The US is pushing for economic sanctions that would include a freeze on
the international dealings of another Iranian bank and a mega-engineering
firm owned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Russia and China are
resisting tougher measures.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2127115,00.html