Reporting without comment

(from todays Irish Times)

"The message is the same for both: give up nuclear weapons and life can be different," Dr Condoleezza Rice said.

"The message to the Iranians is: you can have a different path with the international community if you are prepared not to go the route of a nuclear weapon and to dismantle whatever activities might be devoted to building a nuclear weapon under cover of civilian nuclear power," she said. (Dr. Rice)

"The US is playing down North Korea's claim yesterday that it has developed a nuclear bomb, while stepping up warnings to Iran not to create the technology to manufacture a nuclear weapon."

"Dr Condoleezza Rice, yesterday urged North Korea to return to talks and warned that the reclusive country faced only deeper international isolation.

"We are trying to give the North Koreans a different path," she told a news conference after meeting EU officials in Luxembourg. She said the US and its allies "can deal with any potential threat from North Korea.

"And North Korea, I think, understands that, but the fact of the matter is that the world has given them a way out and they should take that way out. We would hope that there will be six-party talks again, and six-party talks soon, so that we can resolve the issue.""
(Conor O.Clery)

...

Dear Madam,

As Dr. Rice not too subtly warns Iran (and the ironically renamed
DPRK) "The message is the same for both: give up nuclear weapons and
life can be different" one should be reminded that the same type of
claims were aimed at another oil laden middle eastern country in the
not too distant past. The alleged threat of Iranian nucleur activities
must be put in perspective. For the interests of fairness and accuracy
in reporting: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein
now has weapons of mass destruction." (US Vice President Dick Cheney,
26 th August 2002)*. Claims of "the threat from weapons of mass
destruction" were present in nearly every pre-war reports, they are
conspicuously absent now that they have been proven emphatically
false. Let us not be slowly ushered into to another bloody war under
false pretenses.

Yours sincerely,

* http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020826.html

And here's a good article summing up the whole situation neatly:

Iran Now, Iraq Then

With Iran in the sights, let's look back at just some of the lies we were told about Iraq.

by: David Traynier
28th Jan, 05
From: http://www.globalecho.org/viewarticle.php?aid=3064

The drum beat for an attack on Iran is becoming louder with every passing day. From the governments of the US and UK - and their media - a steady stream of warnings, insinuations, and allegations is softening us up to support an assault on Iran by either Anglo-American forces or Israel.

The invasion to 'disarm' Iraq has, according to a recent Lancet study, already cost over 100,000 Iraqi lives. We must not allow this to happen again.

Please take a minute to read the following short quotations. They are all fully sourced, so feel free to check them if you wish. Then please pass this on to as many people as you possibly can, regardless of their views on Iraq.

Remember these statements, the next time you listen to George W. Bush, Tony Blair or our 'impartial and honest' media tell us that we are threatened by the people of Iran.

continued...

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/archive/scoop/stories
/2f/fd/200501281301.27736777.html