Date:07/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/07/stories/2007120753821001.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Iran bombshell

This refers to the editorial “The Iran bombshell” (Dec. 6). The National Intelligence Estimate’s clean chit to Iran exposes the Bush administration’s second big policy disaster, after Iraq. While Russia, which opposed action against Iran, and the IAEA Director-General who consistently maintained that Iran had no clandestine nuclear weapons programme, deserve praise, it is regrettable that India toed the U.S. line on the issue.

J. Dorai Raj,

Chennai

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Mercifully, the ticking bomb has been defused. The key intelligence report exonerating Iran stumps President Bush, who has been criticising it for its supposed nuclear weapons programme.

Are American intelligence agencies trying to regain the credibility they lost when Iraq was invaded on the basis of the wrong claim that it possessed weapons of mass destruction?

B.H. Shanmukhappa,

Davanagere

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Now that a costly misadventure has been averted, the world can heave a sigh of relief. One hopes the UPA government will realise that India should pursue an independent foreign policy and that all the U.S. does is push its own agenda.

K. Panchapagesan,

Chennai

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The editorial was a masterpiece. The two big lies — Iraq and now Iran — should be enough for all nations to understand that the U.S. cannot see beyond the end of its nose.

Rasheed Qureshi,

New Delhi

* * *

The American intelligence agencies have done a great service to world peace. I agree that the Manmohan Singh government needs to introspect on its relations with Iran. It should take steps to clinch the gas pipeline deal. The Prime Minister has maintained that the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal will not affect India’s independent foreign policy. He now has an opportunity to prove it.

K. Lakshmanan,

Srirangam

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The U.S. always needs an enemy to show its big brother attitude. First, it was the communists and now it is the Muslim world. The NIE report is no doubt a major blow to the Bush administration as well as India’s foreign policy.

S. Prasanna,

Bangalore