Iran's Secret Weapon: The Pope

Source: Time Magazine

The diplomatic chess game around Iran's nuclear program includes an unlikely bishop. According to several well-placed Rome sources, Iranian officials are quietly laying the groundwork necessary to turn to Pope Benedict XVI and top Vatican diplomats for mediation if the showdown with the United States should escalate toward a military intervention. The 80-year-old Pope has thus far steered clear of any strong public comments about either Iran's failure to fully comply with U.N. nuclear weapons inspectors or the drumbeat of war coming from some corners in Washington. But Iran, which has had diplomatic relations with the Holy See for 53 years, may be trying to line up Benedict as an ace in the hole for staving off a potential attack in the coming months. "The Vatican seems to be part of their strategy," a senior Western diplomat in Rome said of the Iranian leadership. "They'll have an idea of when the 11th hour is coming. And they know an intervention of the Vatican is the most open and amenable route to Western public opinion. It could buy them time."

If the situation heats up in the coming months, the question of exactly what role the Vatican would play could become pivotal. Says one high-ranking Vatican official: "The Iranians look to the Holy See with particular attention. It is born from our common religious matrix. This could be utilized to offer ourselves as an intermediary if the crisis worsens." Among the potential moves: a forceful series of public appeals by the Pope, a Vatican emissary sent to Washington and Tehran, or a visit to the Vatican by Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Located in a leafy Rome neighborhood, the Iranian embassy to the Holy See features an entryway lined with a large photograph of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and framed, centuries-old correspondence between popes and Persian monarchs, including a Nov. 16, 1561, letter in Latin from Pope Pius V to Shah Tahmasp I. The current No. 2 official at the embassy, Vice-Ambassador Ahmad Fahima, said that despite some concern last year about the Pope's provocative speech about Islam in Regensburg, Germany, "relations between Iran and the Holy See are very good." Last April's release of 15 British sailors held by Iran — a decision that Ahmadinejad called "an Easter gift" — came just a day after the Pope had sent a private letter asking for their liberation. "There was respect for the request of the Pope," said Fahima, who also cited a Rome meeting in May between Benedict and former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami as a sign of the mutual good will. "The policy of the Holy See is important throughout the whole world," the diplomat said.

Asked about the standoff with the West over his country's nuclear program, Fahima repeated Iran's insistence that it is seeking atomic power only for civilian purposes. Moreover, he said he doubts that the United States can resolve key regional issues in the Middle East, including Iraq and Lebanon, without the help of Iran. "We don't expect the superpower will attack," Fahima concluded. "But if they do, I am sure the Holy See would not be favorable to such a choice."



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1687445,00.html

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Bushie and Darth don't listen to no stinking Popes!

Occult cabalists have a Thang.

and stories of a "new missile" are simply fodder for their own people. These are so pathetic one needs not argue against the case but simply wonder who they are talking to. Hussein even tried directly addressing the American people as the Iranians tried to do in New York. Way too late to think about these things as real strategies anymore.

If the Saudis won't/can't make Bush change these pipedreams are worse than absurd.