U.S. Fails to Deter Iran from Developing Nukes

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON -- Despite its defeat of Iraq, the United States has failed to deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear weapons program.

A study published by the U.S. Army War College has asserted that the U.S. ouster of the regime of Saddam Hussein has led to an acceleration of Iran's nuclear weapons program. The report said neither Iran nor its ally, North Korea, has been swayed to abandon its missile or weapons of mass destruction programs.

"Iran also revealed a potential nuclear program more advanced than most suspected," the report, entitled Bounding the Global War on Terrorism," said. "Neither state seemed in the least bit deterred, although North Korea, under considerable pressure from China, finally entered into multilateral negotiations with as yet unknown results. The administration, however, did not take or even speak of military action against these states in part because of preoccupation with Iraq and in part because military action against Iran, and especially North Korea, would entail far greater difficulties and risks than action against Iraq."

Authored by Jeffrey Record, the report, which the college said does not represent the views of the U.S. Army, said the Bush administration chose to attack Baghdad because of the U.S. assessment that the Iraqi military would quickly collapse. In contrast, the administration has rejected any suggestions to attack neighboring Iran, with a much more powerful military, despite Teheran's huge nuclear and missile programs.

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/april/04_25_2.html

Interesting take. Instead of the ME being cowed, this article states that the ME believes the US is weak since it will only attack its weakest threat.