HOW HE SEES IT Threat from Iran is real

By JAY AMBROSE
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
War with Iran is not in the offing. Talks should continue, especially since there are now additional reasons to worry about this frightening Mideast tyranny. But talks so far have proven futile. There's another policy worth all-out pursuit: encouraging Iranian dissenters in removing the theocratic regime that oppresses them.
The new information causing concern comes from the acting director of the CIA. While he says there is no evidence of an Iranian tie to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, he did recently say Iran allowed some of the 9/11 terrorists to pass through the country on their way to wreaking catastrophe. It's hardly a far-fetched surmise to suppose that the Iranian government was in cahoots with Al-Qaida, considering what else we know about that government's deeds.
It is no secret that the government is run by a relatively few, dictatorial, Islamic clerics who have engaged in murder of fellow countrymen to strengthen their hold on the land. The clerics have given every sign of aiming to develop nuclear weaponry despite worldwide protests. They have backed terrorists throughout the Middle East. They have been sheltering Al-Qaida leaders. They are doing all they can to propagandize the Iraqi people into believing the worst about U.S. intentions there. President Bush says the regime is evil. He is right. It is evil.
Saddam
Critics of the war in Iraq appear right about something, too, namely that the war has to some extent benefited the Iranian government. The war has deposed Saddam Hussein, an enemy. And, owing to the Iraqi insurgency and the drain on U.S. military and other resources, the war has made it less likely that the United States poses a threat. So the United States should keep on talking, say some observers -- and talk is always advisable.
Are we to imagine, however, that Iranian trickery to date presages Iranian trustworthiness? Are we to ignore the fact that it would be a betrayal of decency for the United States to turn its back on the brave Iranians yearning to be freed of their oppression? An overthrow of the current regime would make the world safer and give Iranians the chance for the kind of lives that most of them clearly want. To the extent that the United States can aid in that cause without outright military involvement or contributing to wholesale slaughter by the regime, it should.