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Bush says nuclear Iran would be 'unforgivable'
JERUSALEM
Petroleumworld.com, May 16, 2008US President George W. Bush warned on Thursday that allowing Iran to obtain a atomic bomb would be "an unforgivable betrayal" as he made his second visit to Israel in five months.
"Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations," Bush told the Israeli parliament.
"America stands with you in breaking up terrorist networks and denying the extremists sanctuary. And America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions," he said.Washington has spearheaded efforts at the United Nations to rein in Iran's ambitions to master the nuclear fuel cycle, accusing Tehran of seeking to build atomic weapons.
It has also taken a strong position against the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, whose power in Lebanon has been sharply boosted by days of deadly clashes with the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
As he joined celebrations for the 60th anniversary of Iran's archfoe Israel, Bush hit out in particular at his counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
" The fight against terror and extremism is the defining challenge of our time. It is more than a clash of arms. It is a clash of visions, a great ideological struggle," he told MPs."And that is why the president of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to be wiped off the map."
Ahmadinejad has said on several occasions since his accession to power in 2005 that the Jewish state should be eradicated, although he has never explicitly threatened that Iran will seek to bring that about.
However, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated on Thursday that Israel considers the Iranian president's words a threat and said that "the preparations he makes to carry this out through long-range missiles and nuclear capabilities compel us to be ready to defend ourselves."
Olmert added that "the threat is not aimed at Israel alone, and the majority of countries in the region also see themselves threatened."
Israel is the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power and has regarded Iran as its main strategic threat since the US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in 2003.
Israel fought a devastating 34-day war with Hezbollah in 2006 and has watched with concern as the Shiite militant group and its allies have boosted their power during deadly clashes with pro-government supporters over the past week.
On the first day of his visit on Wednesday -- before a climbdown by the Lebanese cabinet over some controversial measures it had ordered against the Shiite militants -- Bush hit out at Hezbollah and aides vowed Washington would rush military aid to the Lebanese army.
" Hezbollah, the so-called protector of the Lebanese against Israel has now turned on its own people," Bush said.
" Hezbollah is supported by Iran, and it's an Iranian effort to destablise Lebanon's democracy, and the United States stands strongly with the Siniora government," he added.
Bush told Israeli MPs that he looked forward to the Jewish state celebrating its 120th anniversary in a more secure neighbourhood, without the threat of Iran and its allies.
He said he hoped Hezbollah's main regional sponsors, Iran and Syria, would then be "peaceful nations, where today's oppression is a distant memory and people are free to speak their minds and develop their talents.
" And Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and (Palestinian Islamist group) Hamas will be defeated, as Muslims across the region recognise the emptiness of the terrorists' vision and the injustice of their cause," he said.
Story by Laurent Lozano from AFP
AFP 15 1415 GMT 05 08
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