Bush And Iran

BY CUNEYT ULSEVER
HURRIYET- I previously wrote that the US will be more aggressive after US President George W. Bush’s reelection. The US will try to restore its relations with Turkey by supporting it in its EU membership bid and by giving an important role in the Greater Middle East Initiative (GME). I don’t think that Bush wouldn’t leave the White House before having the control of Iran. It will persuade Iran to abstain from Nuclear Weapons.
Seymour M. Hersh in his article published in the New Yorker this week wrote the following: ‘Despite the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, the Bush Administration has not reconsidered its basic long-range policy goal in the Middle East: the establishment of democracy throughout the region. Bush’s re-election is regarded within the Administration as evidence of America’s support for his decision to go to war. It has reaffirmed the position of the neo-conservatives in the Pentagon’s civilian leadership. This is a war against terrorism, and Iraq is just one campaign. The Bush Administration is looking at this as a huge war zone,’ the former high-level intelligence official told me. ‘Next, we’re going to have the Iranian campaign. We’ve got four years, and want to come out of this saying we won the war on terrorism.’’
On the other hand, answering a question of how the US will react if the international community will stay indifferent towards Iran’s nuclear program, Bush told the NBC television that he hopes to solve this problem diplomatically, but he would consider every other option.
Pentagon said that there are many fundamental mistakes in Hersh’s article and that these mistakes would ruin its reliability, but didn’t deny the article. Due to the strained relations between the US and Iran, Turkey will face a difficult period this year.