Nuclear-Armed
Iran Risks
World War:Bush
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
18 October, 2007
New
York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — President Bush issued a
stark warning on Iran on Wednesday, suggesting that if the country obtained
nuclear arms, it could lead to “World War III.”
Putin Is Said to Offer Idea
on Standoff Over Iran (October 18, 2007) “We got a leader in Iran
who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel,” Mr. Bush said
at a White House news conference, referring to a remark by the Iranian
president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that Israel “will disappear soon.”
Mr. Bush said he had “told people that if you’re interested
in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested
in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear
weapon.”
Mr. Bush has said in the
past that he would never “tolerate” a nuclear-armed Iran.
But the comment on Wednesday was another sign that he did not accept
a view stated last month by Gen. John P. Abizaid, who retired this year
as the top American commander in the Middle East. The general said that
“there are ways to live with a nuclear Iran.”
Mr. Bush sought in the news
conference to make clear that his pressure tactics, including economic
sanctions, were aimed at persuading the Iranian people to find new leadership.
“The whole strategy
is that, you know, at some point in time leaders or responsible folks
inside of Iran may get tired of isolation and say, ‘This isn’t
worth it,’ and to me it’s worth the effort to keep the pressure
on this government,” Mr. Bush said.
He added, “My intent
is to continue to rally the world, to send a focused signal to the Iranian
government that we will continue to work to isolate you in the hopes
that at some point somebody else shows up and says it’s not worth
the isolation.”
The president was responding
to a question about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, who visited
Iran this week and warned the United States against military action
there. Before that, in Moscow, Mr. Putin said he saw “no evidence”
that Iran was trying to acquire nuclear weapons.
Mr. Bush insisted that he
and Mr. Putin see eye to eye on the Iranian nuclear threat.
“We don’t agree
on a lot of issues,” Mr. Bush said. “We do agree on some:
Iran is one; nuclear proliferation is another.”
The president made his remarks
on a day when Mr. Putin appeared in newspaper photographs standing side
by side with Mr. Ahmadinejad. Mr. Bush dismissed any notion that the
pictures reflected like-mindedness, saying, “Generally, leaders
don’t like to be photographed scowling at each other.”
Mr. Bush has never quite
been able to ride out his oft-quoted remark that he had looked into
Mr. Putin’s eyes and gotten “a sense of his soul.”
On Wednesday, he defended his brand of personal diplomacy, even as he
expressed a wariness about Mr. Putin’s commitment to democracy.
Under Russia’s Constitution,
Mr. Putin is supposed to step down next year, but he has indicated that
he may try to keep his power by becoming prime minister. At a recent
meeting in Australia, Mr. Bush said, he asked Mr. Putin about his plans.
“I tried to, you know,
get it out of him — who’s going to be his successor, what
he intends to do,” Mr. Bush said. “And he was wily. He wouldn’t
tip his hand.”
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