The August 19 edition of the Daily Telegraph has a leading article that smacks of double standards. Entitled "Iran should be punished for nuclear cheating", it totally ignores or excuses Israel's nuclear weapons, deceit and threats. Remind the Telegraph that Israel should not be above the law.

The full article is at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2004/08/19/dl1901.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/19/ixworld.html

Extracts are below, with Arab Media Watch comments in brackets:

Iran yesterday stepped up its defiance of the outside world by threatening to destroy Israel's nuclear reactor at Dimona. General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr of the Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying that this would be the consequence of any Israeli strike on the nuclear plant being built in the southern Iranian town of Bushehr.

(Given Israel's threat, Iran's counter-threat is totally logical and reasonable.)

The general was no doubt thinking of the attack ordered by Menachem Begin's government on the Osirak reactor in Iraq in 1981. He might also have reflected on why Israel might again think it necessary to take pre-emptive action against an Islamic threat.

(Why is the Telegraph turning this into an "Islamic" issue, and why is Iran's potential possession of nuclear weapons more of a threat than Israel's real possession of such weapons?)

The revolutionary regime in Teheran has steadfastly opposed the existence of the state of Israel and has given force to that belief by supporting Hizbollah in southern Lebanon and various armed Palestinian groups within the occupied territories.

(This reasoning is flawed. Hizbollah was created and fought for the liberation of occupied Lebanese land. Armed Palestinian groups are fighting for the liberation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, not the vanquishing of Israel. This can even be said of Hamas, whose relevant policies are outlined in the link below.)

http://www.arabmediawatch.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=350

Iran has learnt from Osirak to disperse its nuclear activities around the country, thus minimising the chance of a single, decisive strike against them. Having been caught cheating under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has shown signs of co-operation, then resumed an attitude of defiance.

The government has evidently calculated that American preoccupation with Iraq and the presidential election has created a window of opportunity for the pursuit of its nuclear ambitions with impunity.

The breaking of agreements on nuclear matters with the European Union trio of Britain, France and Germany has dealt a second blow to the proponents of dialogue. Add to these Iranian meddling in Iraq and you have a classic case of diplomatic optimism being quickly confounded by a far grimmer reality.

(What Iranian meddling? Other than vocal condemnation of US policy in Iraq, which in any case should not be considered meddling, other accusations are unsubstantiated.)

If it persists in cheating, Teheran must be further isolated and, if necessary, punished by sanctions. Beyond that, America and its allies should leave the clerics in no doubt that they will not tolerate their possession of nuclear weapons. In such hands, they would pose a far greater threat than Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

(The Telegraph repeats the falsehood that Iraq was a threat. It could not defeat Iran in a war which the US aided, it was easily routed from Kuwait in 1991 and extensively bombed since, economic sanctions crippled its infrastructure, and no WMD have been found.)

(Israel is now estimated to have several hundred nuclear weapons, an arsenal larger than those of Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan. It is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. It has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Profileration of Nuclear Weapons, though most Arab states and Iran have. It is in violation of binding UN Security Council resolutions 481, 487 and 687 regarding such weapons, and it came close to using them in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Highlights of resolutions 481, 487 and 687 are at the link below.)

(Nuclear weapons are a universal threat, so attempts to stop their proliferation should not be undertaken selectively - Israel should not be exempt. Surely the world is better off without any such weapons.)