{"id":5909,"date":"2006-02-11T19:17:13","date_gmt":"2006-02-12T02:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/proteinwisdom.com\/?p=5909"},"modified":"2006-02-11T19:17:13","modified_gmt":"2006-02-12T02:17:13","slug":"litotical-constructs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/proteinwisdom.com\/?p=5909","title":{"rendered":"Litotical Constructs"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Reuters<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, days after calling Iran the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, ratcheted up the pressure on Tehran on Friday with fresh accusations of interference in Iraq.\n<\/p>\n

\nRumsfeld, in Taormina, Sicily, for a meeting of NATO defense ministers, used an appearance in Europe for the second time in a week to talk tough over Iran, which the United States and European Union fear is covertly developing nuclear weapons.\n<\/p>\n

\nAsked during a news conference about U.S. assertions that Iran, as well as Syria, supports insurgents in Iraq, Rumsfeld said: “We have undertaken a series of initiatives to try to persuade them that their behavior is harmful to a new Iraqi government and indeed harmful to the region. Thus far we’ve not been successful.”\n<\/p>\n

\n“I think they’re making a mistake,” Rumsfeld said, “although I can certainly understand that from their standpoint having a free and sovereign and democratic Iraq on their borders probably is not terribly encouraging to their type of government. So I can understand their resistance to that.”\n<\/p>\n

\nRumsfeld did not make specific allegations of misconduct by either Iran or Syria relating to Iraq. In the past, U.S. officials have accused heavily Shi’ite Muslim Iran of encouraging radicalism among Iraq’s majority Shi’ites and of allowing dangerous weaponry to pass into Iraq.\n<\/p>\n

\nIran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said such accusations are unfounded.\n<\/p>\n

\nU.S. officials have also accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters and financing to flow across its border into Iraq. Syria says it is doing what it can and says Iraq and the United States have failed to control their own side of the border.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nWhile it is true, as Reuters notes, that Rumsfeld “did not make specific allegations of misconduct by either Iran or Syria,” it is nevertheless increasingly apparent that the US is ever more mindful of those two countries. Consequently, we may therefore soon see a media shift away from relentless coverage of Iraqi insurgents fighting a moribund battle on behalf of either the new Caliphate or Ba’athist nostalgia in favor of increased coverage of US “plans” for Iran and Syria.\n<\/p>\n

\nIf this is the case, the reconstruction and reformation of Iraq could make great strides once removed from the consistently-negative presentation it is getting while in the international spotlight.  Alternately, with the world’s attention turned elsewhere, it could fly into civil war and chaos.\n<\/p>\n

\nI’ve got my money on the former for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Reuters: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, days after calling Iran the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, ratcheted up the pressure on Tehran on Friday with fresh accusations of interference in Iraq. Rumsfeld, in Taormina, Sicily, for a meeting of NATO defense ministers, used an appearance in Europe for the second time in a week to talk tough over Iran, which the United States and European Union fear is covertly<\/p>\n

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