Sun Feb 19, 2012 6:6PM
The US Congress has officially moved Washington closer to a military confrontation with Tehran by introducing a resolution that subtly shifts the “red line” policy regarding Iran’s nuclear program, a columnist says.
“Sen. Joe Lieberman is leading a group of nearly one-third of the US Senate urging that the red line on war with Iran be shifted from building a nuclear weapon to the vague notion of Iran having the “capability” to build one,” Robert Parry wrote on consortiumnews.com on Saturday.
The award-winning investigative journalist and author added that the distinction between Iran’s alleged “pursuit of a nuclear weapon” to its alleged “pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability” is a subtle but “important” one.
“The distinction is important because a ‘capability’ can mean almost anything, since peaceful nuclear research also can be applicable to bomb building.”
In a statement published last Thursday on his website, Lieberman announced that 32 senators - both Republicans and Democrats - have banded together to introduce a resolution urging action to prevent Iran from pushing “forward in its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.”
“By rejecting any policy that would rely on containment of a nuclear-weapons capable Iran, this bi-partisan resolution sends a clear message to Iran’s rulers that the United States will stop them from acquiring nuclear weapons capability,” the statement continued.
This new shift in Washington’s line on the Iranian nuclear program comes as recent comments by US and Israeli military leaders indicate that Mossad and the CIA both agree that Iran has “not” decided to build a nuclear bomb.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta admitted in an interview on January 8 that despite progress in its nuclear program, Iran has yet to build a nuclear bomb.
Later on January 18, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz published a report indicating that Tel Aviv agrees with Washington’s assessment on Iran.
“Israel believes Iran itself has not yet decided whether to make a nuclear bomb, according to intelligence assessment to be presented later this week to US Joint Chiefs of Staff Dempsey,” the daily wrote.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and have used this pretext to impose international and unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic and to call for a military strike against Tehran.
Iran has repeatedly refuted Western allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
“To deny Iran the ‘capability’ would almost surely require a war between the United States and Iran, a course that some neocons have been quietly desiring for at least the past decade,” Parry concluded
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