That is President Bush's assessment in today's National Security Strategy report (PDF - highlights are highlighted), described as "a wartime national security strategy required by the grave challenge we face - the rise of terrorism fueled by an aggressive ideology of hatred and murder, fully revealed to the American people on September 11, 2001." This was the first full statement of U.S. strategic goals since a 2002 report -- written in the run-up to the Iraq war -- that formally asserted the U.S. right to pre-emptively attack enemy states and terrorist groups seeking weapons of mass destruction.
While the 2002 report mentioned Iran just once -- and then only as a victim of Iraqi chemical-weapons attacks in the 1980s -- the 2006 edition reflects new realities, and uses some of its harshest language to denounce Tehran as an "ally of terror" and "enemy of freedom," but mainly for its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The report endorses the stalled EU-3 negotiations as a means of diplomacy to defuse the situation, but also warns of "confrontation" if that effort should fail. "Our strong preference... is to address proliferation concerns through international diplomacy," the report continues. But it also makes clear that the U.S. still reserves the right to pre-emptively attack enemies, especially if they are armed with weapons of mass destruction. "The place of pre-emption in our national-security strategy remains the same."
In terms of proliferation, the report concludes that "the best way to block aspiring nuclear states or nuclear terrorists is to deny them access to the essential ingredient of fissile material." While that section does not mention Iran directly, a laptop obtained by the U.S. that has been used as evidence against Iran at the IAEA includes a diagram of a green-salt production line. Green salt -- or uranium tetraflouride (UF4) -- is used for fissile material, which is "a necessary ingredient for making nuclear weapons."
The Administration's concerns are clearly laid out in one of the more lengthy paragraphs dealing solely with the Iranian nuclear program and the actions of the regime:
For almost 20 years, the Iranian regime hid many of its key nuclear efforts from the international community. Yet the regime continues to claim that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons. The Iranian regime's true intentions are clearly revealed by the regime’s refusal to negotiate in good faith; its refusal to come into compliance with its international obligations by providing the IAEA access to nuclear sites and resolving troubling questions; and the aggressive statements of its President calling for Israel to "be wiped off the face of the earth." The United States has joined with our EU partners and Russia to pressure Iran to meet its international obligations and provide objective guarantees that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. This diplomatic effort must succeed if confrontation is to be avoided.
Democracy is a central theme throughout the report, and the Administration was not afraid to list its successes along with its challenges. The end of tyranny in Afghanistan and Iraq, the rejection of Syria by the Lebanese people, the gradual progress of freedom in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait and Morocco were all noted, but were buttressed against the impossibility of recognizing the Hamas government as a fully democratic government. "Elections alone are not enough," the report says - Quartet requirements must be fulfilled in order to become a partner for peace.
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