Europe's 9/11 labeled 'made in Iran'?

---

See the Sol Sanders Archive By Sol Sanders SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

ÒSee Naples! and Die!Ó. In World War II, some of us heading into combat, not overly taken with the beauty of the Vomero, interpreted this differently than the poet. But as EU foreign ministers packed up in late November to leave a meeting there, ÒcheeredÓ, we are told, for having formulated a new defense gimmick, you have to muse on our more literal interpretation. What the European diplomats put together was a new EU military ÒskeletonÓ outside NATO [or maybe tucked into NATO? hiding behind NATO? Ñ or maybe just deducting from NATO. Cherchez la texte francaise!].

Whatever. The fact is that with declining military budgets all over Europe, wherever the new ÒinitiativeÓ leads, it isnÕt going to solve EuropeÕs problem of ø yes, still ø living in a dangerous world.

Almost immediately, in Brussels where the EU bureaucrats usually hang out, outgoing NATO Secretary-General Robertson, using his famous Scottish pluck, scrounged to make NATO credible in Afghanistan. Robertson was ÒdemandingÓ 14 helicopters and 400 specialist troops for NATOÔs 5,700-man force now in Kabul. Plans call for expanding NATOÕs peacekeeping to other cities Ñ a pledge made by the way to the UN which the Europeans so often call on in their mantras to peace through multilateralism. Meanwhile the U.S. strike force does the heavy lifting, continuing to beat back the Taliban ø and if luck is with them, either find, kill, or finally neutralize Osama Bin Ladin in the fierce tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistani border. Tune in next week to see if the EU members of Òthe worldÕs most successful allianceÓ get with the program.

A much more sinister EU ÒinitiativeÓ was taking place, however, in a Vienna United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] confab. It was, in fact, a trial for IranÕs fanatic mullahs, leading terrorist sponsors. The U.S. pushed for reporting TehranÕs suspected nuclear weapons program to the UN Security Council for multilateral action the Europeans [and the Junior Senator from New York] say world peace requires. Tehran had owned up to 15 years of playing hide and seek with the IAEA ø not a terribly demanding game, it turns out, with versions already perfected by Sadaam Hussein and Kim Il Jong.

Iranian exiles earlier accurately reported Teheran's secret nuclear program including Potemkin facilities the mullahs built for the IAEA. When the IAEA finally discovered weapons quality uranium, the mullahs first said it must have rubbed off on them by accident when they imported machinery, then finally came clean and promised to reform. The Iranians said they would halt their uranium enrichment program, sign the so-called Additional Protocol ø [originally designed to halt weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!] In what must have been accidental double entendre [you canÕt make this stuff up!], IranÕs Supreme National Security Council head Hassan Rohani, told journalists Iran "is not at all worried with the continued [IAEA] inspection operations".

Still the Europeans, unfortunately led by Britain, beat back the U.S. proposal for new promises. Hardly was the debate ended, and everyone finished their Sacher tort and went home, when the Tehran mullahs said they had changed their minds: they would not halt their uranium enrichment program because they wanted the full nuclear fuel cycle for their power program. [Why one of the largest oil and gas producers with some of the worldÕs largest reserves wants nuclear power has never been explained.]

The exiles say the West is rapidly reaching the point of no return, that Iran is self-sufficient in nuclear capability [it has uranium], that it could be reached as early as the early 2004. IsraelÕs Mossad Director Meir Dagan told the IsraelÕs cabinet Nov. 23 that the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear reactor ø which President Bush has repeatedly pleaded unsuccessfully with President Putin to halt -- would be operational over the next 14 months and the Kashan uranium-enrichment plant would have an annual 10 atomic bombs.capacity.

But then is not Iran ø from the European perspective -- Òa far and distant country about which we know littleÓ? Not quite. Iran simultaneously had announced it would suspend Shihab-4 developmentø a missile unlike the inventoried Shihab-3 ø which had not yet reached production but is estimated able to strike Europe. Even were the announcement accepted at face value, BritainÕs International Institute for Strategic Studies says it does not represent any overall slowdown in Iran's missile development. Early estimates gave the Shihab-3, based on the North Korean Nodong [remember the ÒAxis of EvilÓ?], has a nominal range of 1,300k ø enough to reach Israel, other Mideast U.S. partners and parts of Europe. But recent Iranian statements have set its range at 1,700k, while Israel warns it might be extended to 2,500k.

Now with reports that OsamaÕs son is holed up in Iran, it might be well to begin to think of missile defenses for the Eifel Tower, Westminster, or the new Bundestag in Berlin. A EU military planning initiative, indeed.