Ex-military commanders warn against Iran attack

Warnings of the dire consequences of military confrontation with Iran, and calls for a renewed diplomatic effort, are being issued on both sides of the Atlantic in a sign of the growing anxiety over the prospect of US or Israeli action. The Bush administration has increased the regularity and vehemence of its accusations against Iran, prompting speculation it could be laying the ground for a military attack against the country. Washington has also sent a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf, a move seen as a warning to Iran which the United States accuses of seeking nuclear arms and fueling instability in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Iran denies the charges. The government insists that it is seeking only to process uranium for power generation. A coalition of foreign policy think-tanks, humanitarian organizations and peace groups issued a report on Feb. 5 arguing that an attack on Iran, reportedly being contemplated by the US and Israel as a means of slowing down Iran's nuclear program, would backfire disastrously. Sir Richard Dalton, Britain's former ambassador to Tehran, backed the report's conclusions. "Diplomacy has not been exhausted," he said. "Military action should be a last resort, used in self-defense against an imminent threat, and we have not reached that position yet." Three former high-ranking US officers echoed the report's conclusions and urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to slow the march to war by making it clear to Washington that he would oppose a military attack on Iran. In a letter to the British newspaper the Sunday Times, the retired officers said a strike against Iran "would have disastrous consequences for security in the region, coalition forces in Iraq and would further exacerbate regional and global tensions." "The current crisis must be resolved through diplomacy," they said. The letter was signed by retired army Lieutenant General Robert Gard, a former military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, retired US Marine Corps General Joseph Hoar, a former commander in chief of US Central Command; and retired Navy Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, a former director of the Center for Defense Information. They urged the US government to "engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions. "There is time available to talk, we must ensure that we use it," they said. British officials are concerned that hawks are winning the debate in Washington with claims that the only way to hinder Iran's development of nuclear arms is to launch air strikes against suspected weapons development sites. But the coalition's report, "Time to talk - the case for diplomatic solutions on Iran," sponsored by the Oxford Research Group, the Foreign Policy Center and Oxfam among others, argues that military action would have far-reaching negative consequences. The authors say it would strengthen Iranian nuclear ambitions, create even greater instability in the region, especially Iraq and Afghanistan, further inflame the "war on terror," and exacerbate insecurity over energy supplies, damaging the global economy. They say it could cause long-term environmental damage by releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere, and cause significant civilian casualties. The report argues there is still a lot of room for diplomacy, particularly bilateral discussions between Washington and Tehran. The Bush administration has repeatedly said it will only hold such talks once the Iranian government has agreed to stop uranium enrichment. Its authors say that Iranian security concerns should be taken into account in comprehensive negotiations. "The idea of a 'Grand Bargain' should not be dismissed outright. Real diplomatic options still exist, if a face-saving solution can be found to convince the protagonists to approach the table," the report states. "The possible consequence of military action could be so serious that governments have a responsibility to ensure that all diplomatic options have been exhausted. At present, this is not the case."