A bright spring or a nuclear dawn?
Jonathan Freedland's assessment (Comment, July 18) that the "threat" posed by Iran will be resolved within the next year either through sanctions or war should give us cause for concern.
It is essential, first of all, to temper his apocalyptic vision with some facts. There is absolutely no evidence that Iran currently has a nuclear weapons programme. Not only has Iran met its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty but, until its referral to the UN security council last year, was a signatory to the additional protocol allowing intrusive inspections of its enrichment facilities. The IAEA has repeatedly stated that there is no proof whatsoever that Iran's uranium enrichment is for anything other than its civilian nuclear programme.
David Miliband's refusal to rule out military action against Iran in the way that Jack Straw did (before he was hastily reshuffled) is a worrying indication that Gordon Brown may be just as in thrall to the neo-con agenda as his predecessor.Stefan SimanowitzCampaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran
Jonathan Freedland writes that Hamas has been "shoved to one side" in Palestine. In reality, what has happened in Palestine is another "regime change" in the Middle East engineered by Washington and London. Prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of a party which won 74 out of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006, has been replaced by Salam Fayyad, the leader of a party with two out of the 132 seats, without the approval of the Palestinian legislative council, as required by Article 79(4) of the Palestinian Basic Law, which says: "The prime minister and any of the ministers shall not assume the duties of their positions until they obtain the confidence of the legislative council." You can see what George Bush means by bringing democracy to the Middle East.David MorrisonBelfast
Jonathan Freedland says that "surging Islamism is thoroughly repressed" in Saudi Arabia. How strange, then, that our media almost daily attacks the Saudi government for encouraging Islamist terrorists and pursuing medieval Islamic social policies.
The truth, which Freedland belatedly recognises, is that the Saudi government is far more liberal than the Saudi street and that if western democracy were introduced precipitately, Saudi Arabia would become more, not less, antiquated, and more, not less, hostile to western ideas. The Saudi government is committed to moderate reform but wisely wants to go at its own pace.
We who resent outsiders' interference in our affairs should leave the Saudi government to decide what is best for its own country. We have tried imposing our system on Iraq and the result has been disastrous.James CraigStandlake, Oxon
Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal is variously estimated at between 60 and 150 warheads. Yet Jonathan Freedland assures us that Israel views the prospect of an Iranian nuclear bomb, in numbers unspecified, as an "existential threat".
So Israel shares at least one view with us peace campaigners of the 1980s, that nuclear deterrence is unstable and unreliable, especially in "limited" theatres. For with an arsenal large enough to destroy Iran, Israel can't plead that a deterrent stance is beyond its powers.
If so, would it attack (either "preemptively" or aggressively) a not-yet nuclear nation, or a nuclear nation not yet capable of a missile response to attack on its own weapons? If so, would Israel honestly anticipate acquiescence in this without retribution from the rest of the world, even if it had the support of (a currently discredited) America? And does it anyway doubt that this would spark the mother of regional nuclear arms races?Nigel BlakeByfleet, Surrey
Ghada Karmi (A historic anomaly, July 17) does not surprise me but saddens me. The overall message is clear: the problems of the Palestinians are the fault of the British, the Jews, the Americans, but never, at any serious level, the Palestinians or the Arabs. She mentions how "the British appointed a Husseini as head of the supreme Muslim council", but leaves the full truth unsaid: Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini went on to become a notorious war criminal, with close links to Hitler and Himmler. He had many imitators, among them today's Hamas, whose goose-step and Nazi salute match perfectly the call for genocide that stains their charter. It is this visceral hatred that prevents the Palestinians having a successful state of their own. "No compromise" - the Hamas secret of success - is a certain formula for disaster.Dr Denis MacEoinNewcastle upon Tyne
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Pertinent Links:
1) A bright spring or a nuclear dawn?
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