"An Iranian expert in international relations, Mahmood Sariolghalam, agreed that Iran's conventional military has exaggerated its capabilities. But he also urged Arab defense leaders and others to engage Iran diplomatically to influence its insular military and defuse tensions.
"Maintaining your distance from Iran will only foster the current inertia in the security apparatus. Iran's policies can be changed through engagement," said Sariolghalam, of the National University of Iran. Both Sariolghalam and Cordesman warned that the bombastic speeches by Ahmadinejad who has called for Israel's destruction amounted to posturing and were not backed by credible threats. Cordesman also contended that tensions in the Gulf were being worsened by U.S. and Israeli leaders overstating the Iranian threat. Though the U.S. has said it hopes to resolve its issues with Iran diplomatically, it has not ruled out a military assault on Iran. But Cordesman noted that no possible set of targets had been definitively identified as possible nuclear weapons installations. He also warned that an invasion of Iran would probably trigger a nationalist defense of the country and "turn into a bloody and pointless war of attrition." "You do not need to consider a military response at this point. You're better off waiting until targets are visible and there's less political controversy," Cordesman said." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Upgrade to Adobe ColdFusion MX7 The most significant release in over 10 years. Upgrade & see new features. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJR Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:230239 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
