Aug 28, 2007
The Times
Tim Reid in Washington
"Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies to isolate Iran’s regime to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late," he told war veterans in Nevada.
Mr Bush has repeatedly said he wants to see the Iran nuclear standoff resolved diplomatically. But there is still a debate going on within his Administration over the possibility of launching President Bush warned tonight that Iran’s pursuit of the atomic bomb could lead to a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East, and promised to confront Tehran "before it is too late."
Mr Bush’s remarks, the starkest warning he has yet made about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, came just hours after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, said that a power vacuum is imminent in Iraq and that Tehran is ready to fill it.
Mr Bush also talked for the first time of "two strains" of Islamic radicalism causing chaos in Iraq and the region: not just Sunni jihadists, about whom he has often spoken, but "Shia extremism, supported and embodied by Iran’s government." Mr Bush’s comments displayed a new aggressiveness toward Tehran, and came a day after Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, raised the prospect of airstrikes on Iran if the crisis over its nuclear ambitions could not be solved through diplomatic channels.
Mr Bush said: "Iran’s pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.
airstrikes should Iran continue to develop its nuclear capability unheeded.
Mr Ahmadinejad, in a news conference in Tehran, again denied that Tehran was pursuing nuclear weapons. He dismissed any possibility of US military action against Iran. "Even, if they were to decide to do so, they would be unable to carry it out," he said. But he increased his provocation of Mr Bush over Iraq, on a day when the US president accused Iran of arming insurgents with sophisticated roadside bombs that are killing US troops.
"The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly," Mr Ahmadinejad said.
"Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap." Although Mr Ahmadinejad revels in making provocative statements, his remarks will increase fears in Washington and among its moderate Sunni allies in the region that an Iranian dominated Iraq will trigger a regional war between Sunnis and Shias.
Mr Bush’s speech was his second address on Iraq in a week and was part of a major effort by the White House to prepare the ground for the progress report to Congress next month Congress by General David Petraeus, the US ground commander.
General Petraeus is widely expected to ask for more time for the surge and Mr Bush still has enough votes on Capitol Hill to give it to him. The likelihood is that the current US troop levels in Iraq - about 160,000 - will remain until April. General Petraeus has signalled that he will then start to end the surge. But US troop levels in Iraq are still likely to be about 130,000 next summer.
Last week Mr. Bush was accused of distorting history by comparing Iraq to Vietnam. He warned that a rapid pullout from Iraq would trigger worse bloodshed in the region than that in South-East Asia after America’s retreat from Saigon in 1975.
Mr. Bush told the American Legion Convention today that he believed the surge was working. Citing recent military gains he said it "is seizing the initiative from the enemy." He said an agreement reached on Sunday by Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders in Baghdad to allow ex-Baathist to get government jobs was evidence that political reconciliation is underway.
In reality, the agreement appeared to have achieved little as Iraq’s major Sunni leader said it was too small an olive branch for he and his party to rejoin the government of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi president. But Mr. Bush seized upon it to argue that the surge has to be given as much time as possible.
The Times
Tim Reid in Washington
"Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies to isolate Iran’s regime to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late," he told war veterans in Nevada.
Mr Bush has repeatedly said he wants to see the Iran nuclear standoff resolved diplomatically. But there is still a debate going on within his Administration over the possibility of launching President Bush warned tonight that Iran’s pursuit of the atomic bomb could lead to a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East, and promised to confront Tehran "before it is too late."
Mr Bush’s remarks, the starkest warning he has yet made about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, came just hours after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, said that a power vacuum is imminent in Iraq and that Tehran is ready to fill it.
Mr Bush also talked for the first time of "two strains" of Islamic radicalism causing chaos in Iraq and the region: not just Sunni jihadists, about whom he has often spoken, but "Shia extremism, supported and embodied by Iran’s government." Mr Bush’s comments displayed a new aggressiveness toward Tehran, and came a day after Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, raised the prospect of airstrikes on Iran if the crisis over its nuclear ambitions could not be solved through diplomatic channels.
Mr Bush said: "Iran’s pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.
airstrikes should Iran continue to develop its nuclear capability unheeded.
Mr Ahmadinejad, in a news conference in Tehran, again denied that Tehran was pursuing nuclear weapons. He dismissed any possibility of US military action against Iran. "Even, if they were to decide to do so, they would be unable to carry it out," he said. But he increased his provocation of Mr Bush over Iraq, on a day when the US president accused Iran of arming insurgents with sophisticated roadside bombs that are killing US troops.
"The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly," Mr Ahmadinejad said.
"Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap." Although Mr Ahmadinejad revels in making provocative statements, his remarks will increase fears in Washington and among its moderate Sunni allies in the region that an Iranian dominated Iraq will trigger a regional war between Sunnis and Shias.
Mr Bush’s speech was his second address on Iraq in a week and was part of a major effort by the White House to prepare the ground for the progress report to Congress next month Congress by General David Petraeus, the US ground commander.
General Petraeus is widely expected to ask for more time for the surge and Mr Bush still has enough votes on Capitol Hill to give it to him. The likelihood is that the current US troop levels in Iraq - about 160,000 - will remain until April. General Petraeus has signalled that he will then start to end the surge. But US troop levels in Iraq are still likely to be about 130,000 next summer.
Last week Mr. Bush was accused of distorting history by comparing Iraq to Vietnam. He warned that a rapid pullout from Iraq would trigger worse bloodshed in the region than that in South-East Asia after America’s retreat from Saigon in 1975.
Mr. Bush told the American Legion Convention today that he believed the surge was working. Citing recent military gains he said it "is seizing the initiative from the enemy." He said an agreement reached on Sunday by Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish leaders in Baghdad to allow ex-Baathist to get government jobs was evidence that political reconciliation is underway.
In reality, the agreement appeared to have achieved little as Iraq’s major Sunni leader said it was too small an olive branch for he and his party to rejoin the government of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi president. But Mr. Bush seized upon it to argue that the surge has to be given as much time as possible.
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