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U.S. Needs New Way of Dealing with Iran

(Newsday/Los Angeles Times) Danielle Pletka - Iran is Terror Central: It has become an operational headquarters for parts of al-Qaeda, continues to sponsor Hizballah and Hamas, and senior officials remain under indictment in U.S. courts for masterminding the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. The regime also remains bent on acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran's decision-makers are committed to supporting terrorism, developing nuclear weapons, and annihilating Israel. First, the administration must ante up promised support for the Iranian people, using the tools at our disposal to embarrass the regime for its abysmal human-rights abuses and rally behind dissident student groups and unions. Second, the administration must persuade the EU and the IAEA to stand firm in their confrontation over Iran's nuclear program and refer the matter to the UN Security Council. Finally, the U.S. must lead in the containment of Iran. Engagement with the current leadership of Iran will not achieve policy change; all it will do is buy an evil regime the time it needs to perfect its nuclear weapons and to build a network of terrorists to deliver them. The writer is vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
2004-07-30 00:00:00
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