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Beware of the Warning
By priscillafairbank on 2009-02-28 14:41:19
Most of us grew up with the Chicken Little story of The Sky is Falling. This fable helped us learn about the panic that can
grow from the mistaken belief that disaster is imminent. In current affairs, we continue to view the results from the
crescendo of the warnings of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. The message seemed unrelenting: Warning!
Warning! Danger! Danger! Must act now! That panic was based on false premises but resulted in thousands of lives lost,
thousands permanently injured, and thousands of displaced civilians. There is a warning in present-day press reports about
Iran's nuclear threat. The headlines following the release of the [AEA report were scary: "Iran ready to build nuclear
weapon, analysts say," screams CNN. "Iran Has More Enriched Uranium Than Thought," shouts the New York Times. "Iran
has enough uranium to make bomb," proclaims the Jerusalem Post. Rober Dreyfuss looks at the same report and carefully
takes it point by point to explain why he considers the panic as nonsense. The misleading news reports led IAEA to issue
clarifying statements. Another challenge to the interpretation that the IAEA report tells of danger is posted on the CASMII
website. We're likely to see plenty of warnings about nuclear threats from Iran initiated from a powerful new interest group
called United Against Nuclear Iran. The name, plus their description as "a non-partisan, broad-based coalition..." sounds
reasonable; besides, nuclear proliferation is a concern to everyone. However, one needs to seriously question their agenda,
often wrapped in euphemisms. It is also useful to view the biographies of their leadership, including their president, Mark
Wallace, who was a deputy campaign manager in the Bush-Cheney ('04) election. The collective experience of these
individuals in foreign policy work, including the Departments of State and Defense, represent a great deal of experience.
They also list as original Co-Founders and former Co-Chairman Richard Holbrooke and Dennis Ross, and congratulate them
on their recent appointments to the Department of State. Does their agenda help promote peace - or otherwise? We are at a
time of great opportunity for negotiation with Iran. The potential of forging agreements that lessen hostility and strengthen
regional stability is worth our best effort. I fear that the message of United Against Nuclear Iran is meant to undermine that
effort. Remember what Chicken Little was meant to teach us: spreading panic about unproven dangers will not make us
safer.
