White House gets tough on Iran

George Bush

UNITED STATES - The United States yesterday sent a clear message to Iran that if all attempts fail at a diplomatic solution to the current stand-off, it is prepared to use force to end Tehran's perceived nuclear threat and its role as a fomenter of international terrorism.

Offering a robust re-affirmation of the Bush Administration's doctrine of pre-emptive action to deal with threats to national security, the latest four-yearly National Security Strategy published by the White House says the US "may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran".

Tehran's suspected military nuclear programme is only part of the problem. More generally, the 49-page document says Iran endangers regional stability with its threats against Israel, its sponsorship of terrorism, its disruptive influence in Iraq and its efforts to thwart a Middle East Peace settlement.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan yesterday described the revised strategy as "an update of the document of 2002". Like its predecessor, it contends the US has the right to strike first at a potential attacker, "even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place" of that attack. The US "cannot afford to stand idly by as grave dangers materialise".

The 2002 strategy was unveiled six months before the invasion of Iraq. This one leaves no doubt that the focus now is on Iran - whose current sins, as catalogued in this latest document, are eerily similar to the accusations against Saddam Hussein's regime four years ago.

The plunge in President Bush's popularity, fuelled by growing disillusion with the war in Iraq, seems to have had little impact on White House policy.

The war on terror was not over but already, the strategy claims, "America is safer" - even though that assertion is contradicted by almost every recent US opinion poll.

The document makes familiar nods in the direction of diplomacy, and of multilateral action to tackle the world's problems. It also acknowledges that "elections alone are not enough" to set a country irrevocably on the path to liberty.

It talks instead about the need for "effective democracy", from which all elements of a country's population have the opportunity to benefit. But it echoes the soaring themes of Bush's second inaugural speech of January last year, setting out the US aim of promoting democracy and human rights, with the ultimate goal of eradicating tyranny.

Iran is one of seven "tyrannies" specifically mentioned in the report. The others are Syria, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Burma, Cuba and Belarus.

But other important countries are chided for their failings. Russia is told that its relationship with the US can strengthen only if Moscow adopts suitable foreign and domestic policies.

"Regrettably," the strategy notes in a rebuke to President Vladimir Putin, "recent trends suggest a diminishing commitment to democratic freedoms."
China, too, comes in for criticism, for repression at home and for its more assertive behaviour abroad.

The document accuses Beijing of excessive economic state control and of seeking to "lock up" energy supplies around the world.

It also complains of China's support for resource-rich countries "without regard for misrule at home or misbehaviour abroad of those regimes" - a clear reference in particular to China's closer energy ties with Iran.

- INDEPENDENT