Iran, U.S. need a crisis exit ramp
cnn
12-Jan-2012 (2 comments)


(CNN) -- When two important countries appear to be goading each other into a dangerous and meaningless war, it can be useful to take a deep breath, lay the rhetoric aside for a moment, and go back to basics.

The past several weeks have seen a sharp increase in the three-decade war of words between the United States and Iran. Iran has held maneuvers in the critical Strait of Hormuz, combined with threats to interrupt commerce there. The United States has lost its third drone over Iran, and unnamed parties are conducting an unprecedented covert campaign of cyberwar and assassinations inside Iran. Iran says it has broken up a U.S. spy ring and has condemned a U.S. citizen to death.

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Darius Kadivar

Gary Sick's Take

by Darius Kadivar on Thu Jan 12, 2012 02:46 PM PST

Editor's note: Gary Sick served on the National Security Council staff under Presidents Ford, Carter and Reagan, and was the principal White House aide for Iran during the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis. Sick is a senior research scholar and adjunct professor of international affairs at Columbia University, a member of the board of Human Rights Watch in New York, and founding chair of its advisory committee on the Middle East and North Africa.


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Dan Huck

Rolling up Your Sleeves and Refusing to Fight not Enough

by Dan Huck on Thu Jan 12, 2012 04:43 PM PST

Iran believes it has rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty it signed. Mr. Sick may believe this is true as many in the international community do as well. A war might be avoided if the International Court of Justice were charged with sorting it out, however, when the "International Community" gang of six has determined there will be regime change or a war, which seems obvious, the rule of law has no relevance; the performance of our President and Secretary of State in reversing their positions at the point when Brazil, Turkey and Iran worked out a secure method of swapping fuel rods for enriched uranium which Iran agreed to, proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt.  

Is the UN simply a self-interested assembly of very well paid pseudo-diplomats, merely bystanders to this charade?  If so, then the no-caps international community, the 99% of us who, because we have no very serious interest in bullying our way, are sincerely swayed by common sense justice and respect for the rights of others, are about to see a replay of Iraq.

In our hearts, I think most of us are sick at the prospect of putting the final nail in the coffin of our squandered integrity. 

 

 

 

 

 


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