CNN is reporting that Bush has said;
As to direct connections to September 11, we're digging into the facts to determine if there was one.. I have long expressed my concerns about Iran. After all, it is a totalitarian society where free people are not allowed to exercise their rights as human beings
The 9/11 commission is expected to state that a number of the 9/11 attackers passed through Iran however that said the CIA has found no link between Iran and al Qaeda. (not that that stopped Bush invading Iraq).
Iran is calling this an election year strategy and says that all al Qaeda members in the country have been arrested and will be put on trial, interestingly even just arresting al Qaeda members is a huge step for Iran.
This goes to the bigger picture and the axis of evil speech that essentially sees Iraq as a US beachhead that will ultimately lead to peace and stability in the entire Middle East region.
Now whilst the aim (peace in the Middle east) is a laudable one it is the method that bothers me. Does the US military now plan to take a right turn and march on Tehran? Certainly I hope not, the Iraqi invasion has not exactly been a roaring success and the idea of using an invasion of Iraq as the starting point for peace in the Middle East seems somewhat far-fetched, as violence has escalated.
However the other side of the coin is that by putting fear into terror states may be enough to get them to toe the line. Witness Libya and the more cautious rhetoric coming out of Iran and North Korea, but then Bush has to prepared to act if terror states don’t fall into line and that’s were the problems start. America cannot afford another Iraq II and in my view peace is best achieved by dialogue and the like, not the barrel of a gun.
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