Lagniappe

 

 

Scott Sullivan:
How to Stop Ahmadinejad!

Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut has the right idea. While
campaigning for president in South Carolina, Senator Dodd has called for the
civilized world to Boycott Ahmadinejad! (see Iranian.ws, 3/2/07.) To quote
Senator Dodd:

"We need to explore centers of control and power beyond the office of the
president," said Dodd, a Connecticut senator. "I wouldn't be dealing with
Ahmadinejad. This is a thug. This is a guy who refuses to recognize the
existence of a Holocaust. I mean this is a person who is not worthy, in my
view, of sitting across the table with serious negotiators."

Right on, Senator Dodd! It is time for world leaders to boycott Mahoud
Ahmadinejad. How about it, Vice President Cheney? Will you take the "No
Ahmadinejad pledge?" If you do, you will make Senator Dodd's Boycott
Ahmadinejad campaign a national US policy. It is impossible to imagine a
more useful step that you could take on any issue than to than to Boycott
Ahmadinejad.

Your failure to boycott Ahmadinejad would raise immediate concerns that you,
President Bush and the Republican Party have somehow hooked up with
Ahmadinejad and Iran. You certainly do not want to convey this impression
of your policy by failing to Boycott Ahmadinejad.

Better yet, let's go one step, but just one step and no more, beyond Senator
Dodd's excellent proposal. Iran has just announced it will reopen its
embassies in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, and a representative office
in Bolivia. Iran clearly intends to stir up trouble in South America, with
the help of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

Ahmadinejad and Chavez already have the support of Bolivia and Ecuador, and
are lining up support from Chile and Brazil. Moreover, Iran is not afraid
to resort to terrorism in South America, as when Iranian agents bombed the
Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires a few years ago. To this day the Iranian
government, which has much to hide and almost certainly sponsored this
attack, refuses to comply with Argentina's official investigation into this
crime. For this reason Argentina's president Kirchner refuses to meet with
Ahmadinejad.

Good. Here is the new US policy, thanks to Senator Dodd and President
Kirchner. The US President and Vice President will refuse to meet with the
heads of state of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Bolivia if they meet
with Ahmadinejad, even once, from this day forward. Moreover, the US will
review the appropriateness of its security assistance programs for these
five countries. Those states which fail to defend US interests and values
may no longer be entitled to participate in US security assistance programs.

In fact, President Bush can announce this new Boycott Ahmadinejad policy,
with Senator Dodd's endorsement, on his trip to Central and South America in
mid-March. At that time President Bush could take up the matter in person
with President Uribe of Colombia. Once Uribe backs the new US policy, the
leaders of Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay, and possibly even Bolivia will not be
far behind.

This policy will isolate Ahmadinejad because it is broad in scope and simple
in execution. Such a policy will notify Ahmadinejad that it will not be
business as usual while the Iranian government engages in terrorism in South
America. Finally, most of all, such a policy will notify US allies that the
US is drawing the line against Iran in South America, beginning here and
now.

Scott Sullivan is former Director for Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay
International Security Affairs Department of Defense. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.

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Petroleumworld News 03/05/07

Copyright©2006 Scott Sullivan. All rights reserved

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