If Iran’s goal is to convince the world its nuclear program is not aimed at creating a weapon to use against Israel, it’s going about it the wrong way. Tehran’s government-run Farsi News Agency has published an interview with the widow of one the nuclear scientists who was recently killed under mysterious circumstances that most observers believe is the work of Israel’s Mossad or some group in its employ. But rather than attempt to tug at the heartstrings of the West or to convince the world her husband was innocent of any intention of using his work to attack the Jewish state, Fatemeh Bolouri Kashani’s statement will have quite the opposite effect.
According to Kashani, her late husband, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan Behdast, a chemistry professor and a deputy director of commerce at Natanz uranium enrichment facility until he was killed last month, had strong feelings about his work: “Mostafa’s ultimate goal was the annihilation of Israel.”
Though Iran’s apologists continue to attempt to cast doubt on intelligence sources that have made clear the regime’s goals, what comes out of Tehran continues to feed the world’s fears about the ayatollahs’ intentions. The piece described the late scientist as a “martyr” for Iran. But what is striking about this and other Iranian accounts of the men targeted for assassination because of their work on Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons is the regime’s lack of interest in trying to prove the victims were working on peaceful uses of nuclear power. It is to be expected that all those speaking to the government-run press in Iran must pay lip service to the regime’s obsession with Israel, but the widow’s statement merely acknowledges what is common knowledge in Iran and elsewhere. Israel remains the focus of the Islamist government’s hate and is the ultimate target of any weapon their scientists can produce.
While some have characterized Israel’s alleged role in the assassinations of Iran’s nuclear scientists as terrorism, the regime makes little secret of their desires. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently said, “The Zionist regime is a cancerous tumor and it will be removed.” When placed in that perspective, any person who was dedicated to Israel’s destruction and who was active in a program whose goal is to place a nuclear weapon in the hands of such a person as Khamenei is committing a crime and should be dealt with in the same manner with which the Obama administration dispatches al-Qaeda terrorists. The targeted killing of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan Behdast is no different than the terrorists marked for death by American missiles.
I'm quite sure that Ms. Kashani is just another victim of tendentious translation. When she was reported as saying that her late, lamented husband's "ultimate goal was the annihilation of Israel, I'm sure what she really said was "Mostafa liked to eat yogurt for breakfast." Juan Cole and Oliver Stone's brain-damaged son will back me on this, I'm sure.
Yes, since "Mostafa's ultimate goal was the annihilation of Israel,' is it not a little bit funny that all he eventually accomplished for himself was "Mostafa's ultimate result was to get his ass killed by a magnetic car bomb."
By apologists who find no evidence of Iranian intent to build a nuclear weapon you would mean of course, the President, and the Joint Chiefs and so forth working its way down. But is there a need to get tied up in the legalities of who is and who is not a terrorist under what this or that precedent of "international law"? International law as currently practiced under the nations of the world deems Israel to be an irritating obstacle and a superfluity whose basic rights of existence and self-defense must be judged before the bar of pubic opinion again and again. n nLet's assume that, yeah, it's illegal under international law to target scientists such this guy or that feller Heisenberg working for Nazis. n nTough shit.
Only fools, idiots, Muslims, and anti-Semites could possibly believe that Iran is not seeking nuclear WEAPONS. I suppose that the NY Times falls in at least one or perhaps all of those categories. In any case, why take chances with a maniacal led regime which has been at war with all civilization since 1979, murdering many thousands of innocents along the way. I do not know how to categorize the incredibly stupid such a SPM1968 above or other dupes, but they are dangerous. As Maurice Chevalier sung in Gigi, "I'm glad I'm not young any more….". Maybe I will be gone before the real devastation starts.
JONATHAN: you need to send this to President Obama! n nvandag1: your last words are very sad, but I have to admit I've thought them myself. "I'm glad I was born in the 1950s, when good was good and bad was bad." but then I feel guilty that I'm leaving the place in such an awful state for my daughter! n nwe MUST stand up for our western values and way of life. and yes, I'll say it right out loud: our culture IS superior to the 7th-century mindset of the Muslim nations, and I thank G-d every day that I was lucky enough to be born in America. n nthe Jew-haters who call us "Israel-firsters" don't understand that Israel is the canary in the coalmine. they're the first line of defense in the Middle East for democracy and western civilization. we are allies with Israel because we share the same values and concerns. we didn't "just happen" to become allies. we're NOT allies with the crazy mullahs in Iran because we don't share the same values and concerns. unfortunately, nobody told Barack Obama that.
michiganruth you are exactly right. However, sad to say, left-wingers and their dumba– liberal allies will throw Israel to the wolves in a heartbeat if they get half the chance. I think we should all realize that.
My worry is that Israel will be prevented from delaying the building of Iran’s first nuclear bomb; not by Iran so much as Russia, China and The United States.
Have you notice the Council on Foreign Relations stooges publishing op-eds everyplace critical of Israel’s taking action on Iraqn’s nuclear weapons program? One of them published by a CFR alumni and Rand-y, Dalia Dassa Kaye.
She is famous for writing an analysis of Oslo entitled something like, “What’s Behind The [Oslo] Handshake”. I could’nt understand head nor tails of it, however I could ansewer what was behind Arafat’s and Rabin’s handshake in TWO wordS: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. The op-ed published in The Los Angeles Times on 2/21/2012 is called, ‘Israel’s risky option. The crux of the editorial is that Israel should stand down because Iran is going to get the bomb anyway and if Israel attacks them now, Iran is going to be really mad. Here is a quote, “… What would be worse than a nuclear armed Iran? A nuclear-armed Iran that has been attacked by Israel.”…
Dr. Dassa Kaye does not appreciate the well known fact that Iran already considers Israel to have attacked Iran.
My point is, there is a well organized campaign to degrade support for Netanyahu in the weeks leading up to The Bibi Obama Meeting in Washington D.C…more dirty pool and this is just the start. PM Netanyahu should expect an ambush at The AIPAC conference and a payback from Obama. We knew Obama was going to cause permanant damage, no you say? Come to your senses. The United States has condemned Israel’s construction starts today because Israel must evacuate Jewish residents to make way for a terrorist state which will be a satellite of nuclear armed Iran while The Camp David Accords which brought the subject of autonomy for ‘The Palestinians’ to light is itself dead,thanks to Obama. Yet Israel is still expected to follow through on it’s commitments after Obama threw President Mubarak and with him The Israel/Egypt Peace Treaty under a steamroller. 75% of The American Jewish Community voted for Obama. Obama feels he is the best friend Israel ever had. I hear hardly a peep from the self appointed American Jewish Leadership with the notable exception of Morton Klein and THe ZOA.
So how did that work out for you, Mostafa? Seems a bit, oh I dunno, ironic?
Why do you believe what the scientist's widow said in that interview? Maybe she said what the Iranian government wanted her to say.
Anniversary nAvraham Stern nFebruary, 2011 nMartin Gray n nIt was the anniversary, nHis death ordained, nThe land drenched in blood. nThe atrocities now legend, nThe ovens now museums, nTourists snapping photos. nThey quoted him, Ya’ir, nThe poet, the warrior: n“Let us greet him; nLet our blood be a red carpet nIn the streets, nAnd on this carpet, our minds nShall be like white lilies”. nAnd they came, the few, nThe forgotten dreamer nOf freedom and life nStanding alone, his grave nSilent, his friends afraid, nRestrained, mournful. nShout, Oh Israel, the nations nClamor for your blood nAnd Ya’ir shall set for you nThe example of courage. nLet the cowards weep nFor acts of vengeance nSo justly deserved. n
Iran faces a delicate issue. On the one hand it wants to show the world all it’s got and put it at ease, while on the other hand it fears that such show 'n tell will give its enemies a roadmap to bomb it. nSaddam Hussein faced a similar dilemma ten years ago. Though he wanted the world to know he had nothing to hide, he also wanted to bluff his archenemy Iran into believing Iraq still had WMD. nBluffing did not go well for Saddam, and it might not go well for Ahmadinejad. nBut since the price tag for ridding Saddam proved high, maybe we ought to reflect what we are asking of Iran now. On the eve of a threatened attack, we are asking it to take us to the depths of its arsenal and show us all it's got. nSuch great expectations are a sign we have been talking to our friends too long and are in need of a broader perspective. Exactly when was the last time we asked Pakistan, India, China or Russia to show us their arsenal? n“But those countries are not advocating the destruction of Israel.” nTrue, but Israel is not a thorn on their side either. nSurely, however, we can see beyond the hyperboles and figure out their underlying purpose. Or have we forgotten that not all Iranians are thrilled with Ahmadinejad? nHe sure hasn’t forgotten. nNor has he forgotten that that his countrymen hate Israel even more. So he tells them that Israel will be wiped from the face of the earth. Expectantly, this nonsense unites them against a common enemy. It is even a diversion from the misery and isolation brought on by his theocratic regime. nQuite clever work by Ahmadinejad — and not a rial spent or a bullet fired. nSo why are we letting the crazy talk about destroying Israel get us all worked-up — to the point of turning the world topsy-turvy again. nCan we not see the desperate attempts of an unpopular regime simply trying to hold on?