Monday, June 12, 2006; A20
When David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey ["A Legal Case Against Iran," op-ed, June 6] cite Iran's infringement upon Article 2.4 of the United Nations Charter, which states that members should "refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," they fail to mention that the United States has explicitly stated that using military force -- even outside of the United Nations -- with Iran is never "off the table." This, too, would seem to be an infringement.
Such hypocrisy, which stems from the superpower status of the United States, is at the root of the quagmire in Iraq and the overall alienation of the United States in the world community.
BRIAN THIEDE
Lewisburg, Pa.
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David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey make an excellent point that a violation of Article 2.4 of the U.N. Charter has occurred that requires intervention by the Security Council. However, Iran is the aggrieved party, and the United States is the violator.
The mistranslated statement by Iran's president that Israel should be "wiped off the map" is not a statement that Iran would use force against Israel.
Instead, the U.S. administration, in stating that "all options are on the table" and that "this diplomatic effort must succeed if confrontation is to be avoided," is clearly threatening U.S. military action against Iran.
Even more egregiously, on April 18, President Bush confirmed, when directly asked, that a U.S. nuclear strike on Iran is included among the options.
The U.N. Security Council and Congress should urgently address the grave danger to humanity entailed in the policies adopted by the Bush administration that threaten nonnuclear states with preemptive use of nuclear weapons before these threats are put into practice.
JORGE HIRSCH
San Diego
