[NYTr] Carter Rejects Bush on Iran; Tehran: "US Plan Doomed"; Der Spiegel Leak

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Jimmy Carter Rejects Attack on Iran

United Nations, Oct 26 (Prensa Latina) Former US President Jimmy Carter
told reporters at the UN headquarters on Thursday that a military
attack on Iran would be a "horrible mistake."

"I hope they are only groundless rumors, because otherwise a tragedy
would occur," Carter said after meeting with UN Secretary General Ban
Ki Moon.

"What we should be doing is having full negotiations, consultations
with Iranian leaders to make sure that they know we don't intend to
attack them militarily," the ex president underlined.

On the other hand, he did not rule out that the Carter Center might be
an observer in Lebanon's elections.

"Out general principle is that we have to be invited to a country by
the governing party and by the opposition as well, and they must
guarantee that we will not be accompanied by any authorities," he
explained.

He added that the center he heads enjoys total freedom of movement and
an unlimited capacity to understand and study the entire election
process.

If that happens with Lebanon, we undoubtedly will consider going to
that country, he said.

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Leak Reveals Cheney's Plan for Iran Attack

Berlin, Oct 26 (Prensa Latina) An official close to US Vice President
Richard Cheney leaked plans for an attack on Iran which have been made
public Friday by the German news outlet Der Spiegel.

In the scenario concocted by Cheney s strategists, Washington s first
step would be to convince Israel to fire missiles at Iran's uranium
enrichment plant in Natanz. Tehran would retaliate with its own strike,
providing the US with an excuse to attack military targets and nuclear
facilities in Iran.

Democrats and Republicans alike have wondered what to make of the still
mysterious Israeli bombing run in Syria on Sept. 6. Was it part of an
existing war plan? A test run, perhaps? For days after the attack, one
question dominated conversation at Washington receptions: How great is
the risk of war, really?, says Der Spiegel.

The Israeli strike, or something like it, could easily mark the
beginning of the "World War III," which President Bush warned against
last week. With his usual apocalyptic rhetoric, he said Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could lead the region to a new world war
if his nation builds a nuclear bomb.

The war in Iraq continues to drag on without an end in sight or even an
opportunity for US troops to withdraw in a way that doesn't smack of
retreat. In Afghanistan, NATO troops are struggling to prevent a return
of the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists. The Palestinian conflict could
still reignite on any front, comments the publication.

President Bush has 15 months left in office, but he thinks of his
legacy, while strategists at the Pentagon, apparently at Cheney's
request, have developed detailed plans for an attack against Tehran.

Despite America's many failures in Iraq, Washington hawks have urged
the weakened president to act now, accusing him of having lost sight of
his principal agenda and no longer daring to apply his own doctrine of
pre-emptive strikes.

The notion of war with Iran has spilled over into other circles, says
Der Spiegel asking if this is not sheer lunacy. Democrats like Nancy
Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives and Democratic
frontrunner Hillary Clinton haved adopted a hawkish stance, referring
to the possibility of an attack on Iran.

Because the catastrophic consequences of an attack on Iran are obvious,
many in Washington have a fairly benign take on the current round of
saber rattling and encourage hesitant members of the United Nations
Security Council to take more decisive action, as it believes war is
the only alternative, concludes Der Spiegel.

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Iran Says Hostile US Policy Doomed

Tehran, Oct 26 (Prensa Latina) The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on
Friday that the hostile US policy against the Persian country violates
international law and is destined to fail.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hoseini said that
irresponsibility and ridiculous accusations against his country will
not help the White House to find a way-out to the crisis it created in
Iraq, according to IRNA news agency.

Those remarks are in response to the US threats of imposing financial
and military sanctions on Iran.

On Thursday, Washington announced new economic measures on Tehran,
aimed at weakening Pasdarans and the Iranian Ministry of Defense.

The sanctions were announced by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
and secretary of Treasure Henry Paulson, who accuse those organizations
of supporting terrorism and see Iranians as a nuclear threat.

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