In this issue:

Sharon Wants War with Iran Now

Iran Suspends Uranium Enrichment Program

Israelis, Neo-Cons Target 350 Iranian Locations

Egypt: Withdraw All Foreign Troops from Iraq

Cairo Conference Final Declaration Supports Iraq Elections

Syria Ready To Hold Peace Talks with Israel

From Volume 3, Issue Number 48 of EIR Online, Published Nov. 30, 2004
Southwest Asia News Digest

Sharon Wants War with Iran Now

An Israeli military expert long familiar to EIRNS has claimed there is a concerted push underway by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his war cabinet to move for war on Iran in the very near term, in order to stop U.S. collaboration with Egypt, and to derail even the slightest hint of restarting peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. To achieve this, Sharon, who is reported to be "delighted" with the Nov. 2 U.S. election results, and with the resignation of Secretary of State Colin Powell, wants to come to Washington to meet with President Bush in the next few weeks, the source said.

To this end, Israeli secret services have put a number of things in motion, including the planting of the "new evidence" cited by Powell, that Iran is developing long-range missiles for the delivery of nuclear weapons—a statement that Powell made, somewhat "out of the blue," on Nov. 18, while en route to Chile for the Asia-Pacific economic summit meeting. Powell pointed to Iran's desire to have a "nuclear weapon that has utility" by pairing it with a delivery system, "not just something that sits there."

Powell's statement stood in direct contradiction to the impression given by Bush, with an assurance to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, when he was in Washington, that the U.S. would go along with the Nov. 15 diplomatic agreement between Iran and the European Union. But, since Bush's statement was not a "formal" acceptance, immediately after the EU deal was announced, the neo-con "dezinformatsiya" machine moved in.

For the Israeli Sharonists, and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and his Pentagon neo-cons, the EU compromise is unacceptable, because they reject the notion that Iran should have nuclear power plants. To them, economic development of an Arab or Muslim country, through the use of nuclear energy, is never to be allowed; their view is that the 1981 Israeli airstrike that destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq, is the only way to deal with Iran.

Therefore, the sudden appearance of a "walk-in" with more than 1,000 pages of information about Iran's missile system, is reported to be a hoax, directly aimed at preventing a consolidation of the EU-Iran deal, with U.S. backing for it.

EIR's Israeli sources report that the unsolicited "walk-in" who delivered the new "evidence" on Iran was actually an Israeli intelligence asset, who passed through Britain to get to U.S. intelligence circles. That is the exact route that was used repeatedly by the neo-cons between 2001 and 2003 to build up the fake intelligence that led to the Iraq war.

U.S. columnist Paul Craig Roberts flatly blames the new report on the neo-cons, and their asset, the Iranian exile group the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, a group designated as terrorist by the State Department. Roberts wrote on Nov. 23, "The source for this effort to spread hysteria ... [m]ost likely ... is a member of an Iranian exile group given the assignment by Richard Perle and John Bolton."

But, the plan appears to be larger, and more immediate. The motivation for Sharon's timetable for the green light to launch the Iran action, said the source, is to prevent the consolidation of the EU/Iran agreement of Nov. 15, but also to break off discussions between Egypt and the U.S., to consolidate closer relations, including having Egypt help the U.S. militarily, in Iraq. The U.S. is doing everything possible to persuade Egypt to play this role—including promising to pay Egypt's international debts and provide it with large amounts of money. What is driving the U.S. to do this is simple desperation, because the U.S. is being bankrupted by the Iraq war—and Bush has not even made his pitch for an additional $70-$100 billion for Iraq yet. Sharon and his generals do not want the U.S. to put any increased importance on Egypt.

Sharon's other consideration is to make it impossible for anyone to demand that Israel negotiate with the Palestinians after the death of Arafat.

Iran Suspends Uranium Enrichment Program

As agreed with the governments of Germany, France, and Britain, on Nov. 15, Iran suspended its uranium enrichment program on Nov. 22, the Iranian Foreign Ministry stated.

Regarding reports that Iran was continuing to produce the uranium feedstock that is the first step in the enrichment process, an Iranian spokesman for the Foreign Ministry was quoted in the Iranian news agency IRNA, saying: "The news about the production of UF6 [uranium hexafluoride] ahead of the suspension is just a part of the propaganda to weaken relations between Iran and the [International Atomic Energy] Agency and the work of building trust with the Europeans." He added, "What we have been doing over the past few days conforms with the Paris Accord and has been carried out under the supervision of the Agency."

However, tensions rose on Nov. 27, when it was reported that negotiators from Germany, Britain, and France, representing the European Union, had told the Iranians that they must also give up the program on 20 centrifuges that Iran was claiming were exempt from the Nov. 15 agreement.

Israelis, Neo-Cons Target 350 Iranian Locations

Since the Sharon government and its friends in the Dick Cheney camp in the U.S. reject the idea of allowing nuclear power for Iran, they have floated the idea that 350 locations in Iran should be hit with airstrikes in order to take out Iranian nuclear capabilities. This plan appeared in the Likud/Mossad mouthpiece Debkafile, in a Nov. 19 article. Debkafile.com has links to the neo-conservative Pentagon circle run by Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith in the Pentagon.

Debkafile is often an outlet for the worst ravings of Sharon's war cabinet, and it says that it has been briefed on the latest Pentagon "war gaming" plan that maps out 350 locations to be hit in Iran, beginning with an assault on the Revolutionary Guard. The Pentagon also has plans for regime change in Iran, as part of the process. Debkafile fully endorses this approach, and also plays up Colin Powell's Nov. 18 statement that "new evidence" shows Iran's expanded nuclear program.

Egypt: Withdraw All Foreign Troops from Iraq

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq, during a meeting of foreign ministers in Sharm al Sheikh, Egypt Nov. 23, which was held immediately preceding the international conference on the future of Iraq.

Abul-Gheit called for applying United Nations Security Council resolution No. 1546, which was passed in 2003, following the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Resolution 1546 calls for ending the mandate of foreign troops, and the restoration by Iraq of its sovereignty after the establishment of a constitutionally elected government by December 2005. This section of Resolution 1546 was ignored by the final declaration of the conference (see below).

The future of Iraq conference, which was called before the 2004 U.S. elections, was colored by the sudden post-election resignation of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, U.S. intelligence sources reported. Powell attended the conference, and held a "side meeting" with the other members of the "Quartet"—Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations—which had authored the "Road Map." But while Middle East governments were polite, there was nothing substantial to discuss with Powell since he has no power in the Bush Administration to make or communicate policy.

Cairo Conference Final Declaration Supports Iraq Elections

The Nov. 22-23 international conference in Cairo on the future of Iraq, ended with a declaration of support for elections on Jan. 30, 2005. Interim Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the elections would be held on time, whatever the situation. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the elections were critical for ending the violence.

The declaration essentially confirms the occupation, and sets no timetable for the withdrawal of U.S., British, and other troops from Iraq, despite the wishes of France and some Arab nations. Egypt called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops, as did Iran. Some Arab delegates, including Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, made it clear they want to see a withdrawal of coalition troops by the end of next year.

The joint declaration also:

* condemns "all acts of terrorism in Iraq," as well as kidnappings and assassinations;

* calls on the interim Iraqi government to deal "resolutely" with terrorism;

* calls on all parties to avoid excessive force and exercise restraint to avoid hurting civilians; and,

* highlights the "leading role" of the UN in helping Iraq prepare for elections and build consensus to write a new constitution.

A meeting of representatives of the Quartet was held on the sidelines of the meeting. As Abul Gheit said, the two conflicts were tightly linked. "Efforts to achieve stability in Iraq cannot be separated from strenuous efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East," he said, calling for a quick resolution of "the Palestine question."

On the question of Iraq's border security, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had held talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa in which he pressed Syria to do more to prevent fighters and money from entering Iraq. "The Syrians have taken some steps recently but we think there is a lot more they can do," Powell told a news conference. "We discussed ... our desire to see more done on the border, to prevent the flow of terrorists and weapons and finances across the border. We discussed that rather directly."

Syria Ready To Hold Peace Talks with Israel

In talks with UN special Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he was ready to hold peace negotiations with Israel, despite the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon refuses, reported the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz on Nov. 24.

"President Assad has reiterated to me today that he has an outstretched hand to his Israeli counterparts, and that he is willing to go to the table without conditions," Roed-Larsen told a news conference, following talks with Assad and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa. "This is also very encouraging because the United Nations does not believe that there will be a lasting peace unless there is a comprehensive peace. We have to address all the tracks of the Middle East peace process."

In response to this news, Israeli President Moshe Katsev called on the Israeli government to take very seriously the offer of the Syrian government, reported Ma'ariv, another Israeli daily, Nov. 25.

"In my opinion it is important to carefully examine Assad's intentions, whether he really wants peace or only wishes to improve his international image," Katsev told Ma'ariv. "Since 1958, we have always declared that any Arab leader who would come to Israel to hold peace talks is welcome. I think the same response should be given to Assad's proposal." Sharon has never made this proposal, because Assad just might take him up on it, as Egyptian President Anwar Sadat did in 1977.

On the question of Sharon's "Berlin Wall" on the West Bank, Katsev said, "If the Palestinians ceased the path of terrorism, Israel should stop building the security fence. The fence costs us a lot of money, creates international pressure and difficult legal problems. If they stopped terror, we would have no need to build the barrier." This is also a departure from Sharon's line.

All rights reserved © 2004 EIRNS