Professor untangles Iran war possibility (Rpt fm Lehigh University)

Chaim Kaufmann, professor of international relations, said if the United States were to go to war with Iran a land-based attack would not work, but he said President George W. Bush is striking a threatening pose regardless, in a speech given in Maginnes Hall on Tuesday.

Kaufmann analyzed the motivations of the United States and what the consequences would be if the United States were to go to war with Iran his speech, which was part of a series of presentations given by the international relations department in conjunction with the World Affairs Club.

Kaufmann did not offer a clear answer as to whether the United States will go to war with Iran. Instead, he discussed the possible motivations for such an attack.

Kaufmann said current governmental policy has reached an unprecedented level of intensity with Iran.

“Between December of last year and this February you get some pretty extreme rhetoric,” Kaufmann said. “President Bush in his 2005 State of the Union Address said ‘today Iran remains the world’s primary state sponsor of terror, persuing nuclear weapons, while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve.’”

Kaufmann said the United States has never made similar accusations against regimes that probably deserve it more than Iran does. He also noted that this instance is the first time in which President Bush has called for the people of a country to rise up and overthrow their government. Kaufmann said he thought these peculiarities were due to the imminence of Iran acquiring fuel that would permit the creation of nuclear weapons.

Beth Konarski, ’05, asked Kaufmann for an estimation of a date when the United States would attack Iran. Konarski said that the point in time when Iran could acquire nuclear power wasn’t that far away.

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http://www.bw.lehigh.edu/story.asp?ID=18639

If he had any, that is? I can't exactly tell.

I'm an academic, so I appreciate an elaborate argument and presentation of evidence as much as anyone. But it's all about oil. Why delude ourselves?

talking about building a pipeline. Iran was the big problem because of its location. Iran is in the wrong place. It is right between Iraq and the energy rich 'Stans and controls the south of the Caspian Sea Basin.


Look at a map. We are surrounding them.

Kevin Kirschman, ’06, said he did not think the United States would ever go to war with Iran, although he said it should.

“The world has a responsibility to prevent the further proliferation of nuclear weapons,” Kirschman said.

A bullshit argument.

We could make Iraq part of the "coalition of the willing".

I miss the good ole days when we supplied both sides with weapons and sat back.