Iran out of the "axis"? (Insider Report).

According to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, "there's one dramatic difference between Iran" and the other two members of the "axis of evil," Iraq and North Korea, "and that would be democracy." The State Department lists Iran as a major exporter of terrorism, and--thanks to Russian help--it is much closer to having nuclear weapons than Iraq. Nonetheless, according to Armitage, the Bush administration has quietly pursued diplomatic contacts with supposedly democratic Teheran, and "does not plan to target the Islamic republic after the likely war in Iraq," reported the February 15th Sydney Morning Herald.

On the same day that the Herald reported the Bush administration's new chumminess with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary regime, the Washington Tunes revealed that Teheran is hosting key al-Qaeda leaders. Citing intelligence sources, the Times reported that "Osama bin Laden's oldest son, Sad, is in Iran along with other senior alQaeda terrorists.... The intelligence on bin Laden's son comes as the Bush administration has released intelligence indicating Iraq is working with al-Qaeda terrorists, including a senior associate of Osama bin Laden who has been in Baghdad since May."

In Iraq's case, murky allegations of tenuous links between Baghdad and al-Qaeda are treated as a "smoking gun"; when dealing with Iran, however, much stronger ties are dismissed as inconsequential. This illustrates, yet again, the utter phoniness of the administration's "war on terrorism."