Ahmadinejad: Israeli PM Netanyahu a 'skilled killer'

Ahmadinejad: Israeli PM Netanyahu a 'skilled killer'

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Israeli prime minister is a professional assassin, who should be tried for his crimes against the people of Palestine.


"[Benjamin] Netanyahu should be tried in court for blockading Gaza and massacring innocent Palestinian women and children," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with CNN's Larry King on Wednesday.

"Netanyahu is a professional assassin. All dictators in history accuse others to turn the spotlight away from themselves," the Iranian president said when asked about the Israeli prime minister's worries about Iran.

"It is questionable [why] American media feel responsible for this person (Netanyahu)," Ahmadinejad said, adding that "you (American media) are afraid of Netanyahu's warmongering."

The Iranian president said the US and Israel's nuclear weapons are the main threat to the world, and they are mistaken to think they can divert attention from this issue by using propaganda campaigns and spreading lies about others.

"Iran is firmly after the nuclear disarmament of the US and Israel."

Ahmadinejad added that Israel is an "illegitimate regime" and an "occupier" and that the US easily starts wars and massacres people, "they are not qualified to have nuclear weapons and should be disarmed as soon as possible."

When asked about the fate of a former FBI agent who allegedly disappeared on Kish Island, the Iranian president said a "joint Iranian-American intelligence committee is to investigate the matter."

Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent, disappeared on March 9, 2007 on Kish Island where he was doing investigative work for a private security firm.

US officials have dismissed suggestions that Levinson was on assignment for a US government agency.

Iranian authorities have announced that Tehran has no information on the matter but they stand ready to work with the FBI if asked by Washington.

Persian Gulf states in $123 billion U.S. arms spree

Persian Gulf states in $123 billion U.S. arms spree

By staff and agencies

The U.S. plans to sell F-16 jet fighters to Oman and F-15 jets to Saudi Arabia.

LONDON/ABU DHABI - The Arab states of the Persian Gulf have embarked on one of the largest rearmament exercises in peacetime history, ordering U.S. weapons worth some $123 billion, providing a huge boost to the U.S. military industrial complex.

A package of U.S. arms worth more than $67 billon for Saudi Arabia accounts for the largest single component of this military buildup, The Financial Times reported.

The first phase of this agreement -- soon to go before the U.S. Congress for approval -- is estimated at about $30 billion.

Anthony Cordesman, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that the U.S. was aiming to achieve a “new post-Iraq war security structure that can secure the flow of energy exports to the global economy”.

The arms sales would “reinforce the level of regional deterrence and help reduce the size of forces the U.S. must deploy in the region”.

The purchase of new weaponry comes at a time when the United States’ defense industry bore the brunt of global economic crisis.

More than eight million U.S. jobs were lost in the slump that was triggered by dodgy Wall Street mortgage investments. The economists warned of a double-dip recession in the United States.

Saudi Arabia will receive 85 new F-15 jet fighters and another 70 will be upgraded. Boeing will be the principal supplier, allowing the U.S. company to strengthen its ability to manufacture advanced military jets, an area where it has been slipping under competitive pressure. A successor agreement is expected to provide for the upgrade of radar and missile defense systems and an ambitious modernization of the Saudi Navy’s eastern fleet, Financial Times’ report by Roula Khalaf in London and James Drummond in Abu Dhabi said.

“The Saudi aim is to send a message especially to the Iranians -- that we have complete aerial superiority over them,” said a Saudi defense analyst.

Other U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf are also involved. Theodore Karasik, from the Institute for Near East and (Persian) Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, said that the United Arab Emirates had signed contracts to buy military equipment worth $35 billion-$40 billion.

The UAE has received clearance to buy Thaad, a high altitude missile defense system being developed by Lockheed Martin. The UAE and Kuwait have each signed contracts for upgrades to their Patriot missile defense systems, developed by Raytheon, which cover lower levels of an air defense “curtain”.

Elsewhere, Oman is expected to spend $12 billion and Kuwait $7 billion in the period until the end of 2014 on replacing and upgrading warplanes and new command and control systems, according to Blenheim Capital Partners, a consultancy that arranges offset deals. Oman’s package will include 18 new F-16 jet fighters and upgrades for another 12. This will benefit Lockheed Martin, reinforcing its position as the leading U.S. manufacturer of warplanes.

The total value of all U.S. arms deals with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Kuwait is estimated at $122.88 billion over the next four years.

Grant Rogan, Blenheim’s chief executive, said that Middle Eastern and south-east Asian countries had traditionally bought arms on a one-off basis. But now they were replacing western Europeans as some of the biggest regular arms purchasers. “They are the big buyers,” he said.



"The empire is at the point of committing a terrible error that nobody can stop. It advances inexorably toward a sinister fate,"

"The empire is at the point of committing a terrible error that nobody can stop. It advances inexorably toward a sinister fate,"

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro sits at the National Centre for Scientific Investigation (CNIC) in Havana July 7, 2010.

Fidel Castro to appear on Cuban television and radio

(Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has lived in seclusion since falling ill four years ago, will appear on Cuban television and radio on Monday evening to discuss his theory that the world is on the verge of nuclear war, the Communist Party newspaper Granma said in its Monday online edition.

The appearance will mark the second time in less than a week that the suddenly resurgent 83-year-old has made a public appearance, after staying out of view, except in occasional photographs and videos, since undergoing emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006.

Last Wednesday, he made a visit to a Havana scientific center that was disclosed in a blog on Saturday.

Castro writes opinion columns, or "Reflections," for Cuba's state-run media that in recent weeks have focused on his prediction that nuclear war will soon break out, sparked by a conflict between the United States and Iran over international sanctions against Iran's nuclear activities.

"The empire is at the point of committing a terrible error that nobody can stop. It advances inexorably toward a sinister fate," he wrote on July 5.

The "empire" is how Castro usually refers to the United States, his bitter foe from the time he took power in Cuba in a 1959 revolution.

In a column published on Sunday night, Castro said the "principal purpose" of his writings has been to "warn international public opinion of what was occurring."

He said he has reached his dire conclusion based in part on "observing what happened, as the political leader that I was during many years, confronting the empire, its blockades and its unspeakable crimes."

The columns have attracted little attention internationally and caused little reaction in Cuba, but Castro promised to continue his lonely fight to warn the world of the coming disaster.

"I don't hesitate in running risks of compromising my modest moral authority," he wrote on Sunday. "I will continue writing 'Reflections' about the topic."

Castro ruled Cuba for 49 years before provisionally ceding power to younger brother Raul Castro following his 2006 surgery.

Citing age and infirmity, he officially resigned in February 2008 and Raul Castro, now 79, was elected president by the National Assembly.

Fidel Castro's reappearance comes as Cuba is preparing to release 52 political prisoners, all jailed in a crackdown on the opposition in 2003 while he was still in power.

(Reporting by Jeff Franks; editing by Eric Beech)

Phoenix: Kidnapping Capital of U.S. & 2nd in World

Phoenix: Kidnapping Capital of U.S. & 2nd in World

In what officials caution is now a dangerous and even deadly crime wave, Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City and over 370 cases last year alone.

OPERATION NEW DAWN: THE IRAQ WAR GOES ON...

US forces still in fight at end of combat mission

By LARA JAKES and MAYA ALLERUZZO (AP) – 11 hours ago

HAWIJA, Iraq — Even as President Barack Obama was announcing the end of combat in Iraq, American soldiers were sealing off a northern village early Wednesday as their Iraqi partners raided houses and arrested dozens of suspected insurgents.

While the Obama administration has dramatically reduced the number of troops and rebranded the mission, the operation in Hawija was a reminder that U.S. forces are still engaged in hunting down and killing al-Qaida militants — and could still have to defend themselves against attacks.

That reality was front and center at a change-of-command ceremony in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces outside Baghdad that the American military now uses as its headquarters. Officials warned of a tough road ahead as the U.S. moves into the final phase of the 7 1/2-year war.

Of paramount concern is Iraqi leaders' continued bickering, six months after parliamentary elections, over forming a new government — a political impasse that could further endanger stability and fuel a diminished but still dangerous insurgency.

"Iraq still faces a hostile enemy who is determined to hinder progress," Gen. Lloyd Austin, the newly installed commander of the just under 50,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq, told the swelling crowd that was clad in military fatigues and political suits. "Make no mistake, our military forces here and those of the Iraqi nation remain committed to ensuring that our friends in Iraq succeed."

Vice President Joe Biden presided over the gathering at al-Faw palace, Saddam's gaudy former hunting lodge replete with fake marble walls and a huge chandelier made of recycled plastic.

The remaining U.S. forces in Iraq would be "as combat ready, if need be, as any in our military," Biden said, flanked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen for the 75-minute ceremony, which also changed the U.S. mission's name from "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to "Operation New Dawn."

Three years ago, about 170,000 U.S. troops were in Iraq. Of those who remain, fewer than 10 percent — or 4,500 — are special forces who will regularly go on raids and capture terrorists, albeit alongside Iraqi troops.

Obama ordered the end of combat missions by Aug. 31 in a step toward a full withdrawal of American forces by the end of next year that was mandated in a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement.

Violence also has declined dramatically since early 2007, when the Pentagon poured tens of thousands more troops into Iraq over a matter of months to quell a Sunni insurgency that had lured the country to the brink of civil war. Additionally, a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq and a Shiite militia cease-fire have helped tamp down attacks, although bombings and shootings across Iraq continue on a near-daily basis.

But Iraqi forces are heavily dependent on U.S. firepower, along with helicopters, spy data and other key tools for combating terrorists that they won't be able to supply on their own for years to come.

"Every soldier I have knows that fighting is not over because there are groups here that still want to hurt us," Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo, commander of U.S. troops in Iraq's volatile north, told The Associated Press recently. "But clearly combat operations is not in our mission statement."

In Hawija, once a hub for Sunni militants and Saddam's disaffected allies located 150 miles north of Baghdad, roughly 80 U.S. soldiers teamed up with more than 1,000 Iraqis to arrest about 60 terror suspects in the early morning raid Wednesday.

From checkpoints and command centers to helicopters hovering overhead, the Americans were on hand at the request of Iraqi police. But it was the Iraqis who went into houses and arrested suspected insurgents — including two considered high-value targets — while the U.S. watched the operation from afar.

Hours before the raids, Lt. Col. Andy Ulrich gave his soldiers a pep talk to counter concerns they weren't on a worthwhile mission.

"You all are combat troops not doing a combat mission, although it looks smells and feels and hurts a lot like combat," Ulrich said.

"Don't worry about what the politicians are saying because we have a mission," he added. "The bad part is, we can't go kicking the doors ourselves and get these guys. We've got to kind of convince Iraqis to do it, but the good part is, they're kind of willing to do it."

Iraqi forces across Baghdad appeared to be on heightened alert, aiming to reassure the populace and ward off insurgent attacks to coincide with the change in command.

Intelligence officials had warned al-Qaida in Iraq might use the U.S. military's shifting mission to launch suicide bombings around the capital in the days leading up to Wednesday's ceremony. However, the day was relatively quiet, except for a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad that police said killed one person.

At the Baghdad ceremony, Gen. Ray Odierno, the outgoing commander, formally ended his nearly five-year tour in Iraq on a reflective note.

"This period in Iraq's history will probably be remembered for sacrifice, resilience and change," Odierno said. "However, I remember it as a time in which the Iraqi people stood up against tyranny, terrorism and extremism, and decided to determine their own destiny as a people and as a democratic state."

Then, wistfully using his military call sign one last time, Odierno ended his remarks: "Lion 6 — out."

Obama ordered the refocusing of the U.S. mission last year to fulfill a campaign promise of ending what he once termed "a dumb war" and one that Gates acknowledged Wednesday was launched without justification. In an address Tuesday night Obama announced the end of American combat, but made clear that this was no victory celebration.

"Of course, violence will not end with our combat mission," the president said.

Defining the front lines in a war where soldiers who are attacked while delivering supplies could just as easily return fire as Marines while on a raid to round up suspected insurgents has never been easy. Some of the key ongoing threats to the safety of American forces are the same as they've always been: rockets, mortars and roadside bombs.

U.S. military officials have said Iranian-backed militias are stepping up their attacks against targets in Baghdad, trying to make it look like they're driving out the Americans. Since arriving in Iraq, the battalion taking part in the Hawija raids has been hit by rocket and grenade attacks on their patrols and on their base almost every other day.

In the western Iraqi city of Ramadi before the ceremony, Gates told reporters the U.S. would consider keeping some military forces in place past next year, if the Iraqi government requests it.

Asked whether the U.S. was still at war in Iraq, Gates answered succinctly, "I would say we are not."

He was less definitive about whether the 7 1/2-year war was worthwhile. More than 4,400 American troops and an estimated 100,000 Iraqis have been killed since the 2003 invasion, and billions of dollars have been poured into the war effort.

Claiming that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, then-President George W. Bush ordered the invasion with approval of a Congress still reeling from the 9/11 attacks. Bush's claims were based on faulty intelligence, and the weapons were never found.

"The problem with this war, I think, for many Americans, is that the premise on which we justified going to war turned out not to be valid," Gates said. "Even if the outcome is a good one from the standpoint of the United States, it'll always be clouded by how it began."

Jakes reported from Baghdad and Alleruzzo from Hawija. AP National Security Correspondent Anne Gearan in Ramadi and AP writers Barbara Surk and Rebecca Santana in Baghdad contributed to this report.

SPIEGEL Interview with Iraq's Ayad Allawi

SPIEGEL Interview with Iraq's Ayad Allawi

 

'Every Corner in the Region Is Frightened

 

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-58724.html

In a SPIEGEL interview, Ayad Allawi, Iraq's former and possibly future prime minister, discusses the withdrawal of US troops, the power struggle in Baghdad and the "very high possibility" of a new war in the Middle East.

Three bodyguards are sitting in front of his hotel suite in Kuwait, their guns bulging from beneath their suits. It's Ramadan and the men are fasting. But Ayad Allawi isn't, and he asks for an espresso. Allawi doesn't even create the impression that he lives according to religious rites. And that's also one reason why, nearly six months after the Iraqi election, he still hasn't become prime minister. He is one of the few representatives of a secular and supra-denominational Iraq.

The son of a Shiite businessman, Allawi became a member of the Baath Party as a student, but fell out with Saddam Hussein in the 1970s and then worked with Western intelligence services in the effort to topple the dictator. In 2004, the United States installed him as the first prime minister in postwar Iraq. After a year of governing as interim prime minister, he failed to win a democratic election to remain in the office. But in March 2010, he led in the parliamentary elections, with a two-seat advantage. Despite almost six months of talks, however, he still hasn't managed to form a government.

Allawi is pessimistic about the region. He says that on the night before his interview with SPIEGEL, he conferred with Arab leaders until 1 a.m. With a growing number of conflicts in the region, he says, the situation has grown more serious than most there have ever experienced. "Early today," he explains, "one of the most experienced of us came in and asked: Has the next catrastrophe in the Middle East broken out yet?"

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SPIEGEL: Dr. Allawi, you are a neurologist by profession. How would you describe Iraq's current state in medical terms?

Allawi: Critical. It could go either way. Everything depends on the doctors' management of the patient. If the management is good, Iraq can survive. If not, then God forbid.

SPIEGEL: So your best case prognosis would be …

Allawi: … an Iraq with a balanced and inclusive government, which transcends sectarianism, starts political reconciliation, builds full-blown state institutions and security forces and creates an independent foreign policy.

SPIEGEL: And the pessimistic one?

Allawi: Iraq continues on its downward slide and becomes a failed state. If that happens the Pandora's box will open again and all the violence will reappear.

SPIEGEL: A relapse, in clinical terms, to the bloodiness seen in 2006 and 2007?

Allawi: Yes. But a relapse now would be much more severe, because we do not have multinational forces anymore which could contain a civil war.

SPIEGEL: The combat deployment of the US troops officially ends this week. Will that help Iraq or does it take away the sick patient's life support?

Allawi: It is politically important. But the problem is that we have not established the supportive fixtures for the patient. We have not established the political groundwork; we have not built an army that can really shoulder the responsibility.

SPIEGEL: The Iraqi military chief of staff, General Babakir Zebari, says that Iraq's army will not be fully ready before 2020 and that the Americans must stay.

Allawi: I agree with him. It may well take another 10 years.

SPIEGEL: Are the Americans leaving too early?

Allawi: They have to leave eventually. They have been in Iraq for seven years and we have not achieved anything ourselves. Who can guarantee that this would be different another seven years from now?

SPIEGEL: Does IS US President Barack Obama's administration neglect Iraq to the benefit of Afghanistan?

Allawi: You see what is happening in Afghanistan: It is a total failure. The problem here is not about America leaving Iraq and continuing its fight in Afghanistan. America has to rethink its strategy for the whole region from Central Asia to the Middle East. NATO will have to rethink its strategy, and so will Europe. The West's policy is wrong. Just look around: Somalia is a totally failed state. Yemen faces the most serious of challenges. Palestine? One step forward, three steps back. And somewhere down the line, Lebanon will be on the agenda. God help us when the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon issues its verdicts in the murder case of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

SPIEGEL: That is a very gloomy analysis -- and it does not provide much hope for peace in this region.

Allawi: I am not gloomy, I am only realistic. America is the last remaining superpower. We need to have good relations with Washington. But we also have to see the mistakes in the US strategy. We have excellent, professional soldiers in Iraq today but, and I am only quoting the chief of staff here, we do not have an army ready to shoulder its responsibilities. Similar comments come from the interior minister. And our police force is infiltrated by militias.

SPIEGEL: Saddam Hussein's former foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, who is now in prison, accuses America of leaving Iraq "to the wolves." Who does he mean by that?

Allawi: He means the predators that have been unleashed all over the Middle East, the lawless people and the terrorists who want to spill as much blood as possible on as many places as possible. The conflicts between Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and the Maghreb are similar and interconnected in this respect.

SPIEGEL: The leaders of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinians will soon start a new round of peace talks in Washington. Do you believe these talks have any chance?

Allawi: I am very skeptical. I do not think it will work. The environment is not right.

SPIEGEL: For the past two years, it seemed as though Iraq had tamed its predators. The al-Qaida terrorists appeared to have been decisively beaten.

Allawi: Yes, but the early warning signs that have accumulated over the past months, the increase in violence, the new wave of assassinations and suicide attacks, should not be read as something superficial and accidental. On one day alone we counted 13 attacks with dozens of people killed. This is a systematic development. The biggest mistake committed by the Iraqi government and the multinational forces was to let down the Sahwa forces -- the tribal movement which was so decisive in the fight against al-Qaida. They have not been integrated; they have been disenfranchised and pushed back into despair and poverty. This will have consequences. Violent groups are already mushrooming in the shadows of al-Qaida.

SPIEGEL: So, the successes of the past few years are highly endangered?

Allawi: Just look at what is happening in Afghanistan: All the pressure, all the bombs have not finished off the Taliban and al-Qaida. They have actually been strengthened beyond the country's borders itself into Pakistan. The overall strategy is wrong.

SPIEGEL: Your rival, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, claims to have established a strong Iraq and to be a strong leader.

Allawi: He is not strong. How do you define strength? Commanding one square kilometer in the center of Baghdad?

SPIEGEL: You mean the Green Zone, the highly secure government and embassy compound by the Tigris.

Allawi: From Basra in the south to Mosul in the north, demonstrations are raging. Services (like electricity, water and trash collection) are almost on standstill. Even the Green Zone is being bombarded on a daily basis again. We have an army without airplanes and without tanks. What sort of strength is this?



Part 2: 'We Have a Constitutional Problem in Iraq'



SPIEGEL: Iraqis do not blame al-Maliki alone for this misery, however. They do blame politicians in general, yourself included. Some voters have risked their lives by participating in the elections, but even after nearly five months of negotiations, you haven't yet succeeded in forming a government.

Allawi: This is democracy. And because of the fact that electoral alliances are formed in Iraq even after the election, and the fact that al-Maliki's list succeeded in pushing for a recount of the votes, we lost three precious months of time.

SPIEGEL: America is now pushing for a power-sharing agreement between your list and al-Maliki's list and for important cabinet posts to be split between the two.

Allawi: It is not the Americans who are pushing. It was me who convinced the US and the United Nations to move forward through a devolution of power.

SPIEGEL: What does that mean? You will become prime minister and al-Maliki will be president? Or vice-versa?

Allawi: No. We have a constitutional problem in Iraq. All the power is focused in the office of the prime minister, no matter whether that person is me or al-Maliki. My list has suggested splitting this power. The idea is to set up a modus according to which I can accept a position, not necessarily that of prime minister, and he can accept a position, not necessarily that of prime minister, because both of us will be part of the decision-making process and hold the important keys in our hands.

SPIEGEL: But three years ago you told us that Iraq needs a strong leader. You said this country cannot even be governed otherwise.

Allawi: Yes, and I stand by this even today. But the results of the election were so close that we cannot practically adhere to this. We have not yet transitioned to democracy. Even in 2007 we thought that we had progressed further than we actually have today. We have reached a point now where nobody trusts anybody and where the future of the country and the entire region is at stake.

SPIEGEL: And at this critical point of time you decided to break off talks with al-Maliki because he called your group a "Sunni" one? Is this responsible behavior?

Allawi: Absolutely, yes. If we hadn't objected to this lie we would have lost our constituency. Our voters, the still strong group of secular people in Iraq, are steadfast on the issue of sectarianism. A Sunni in our group doesn't want to be seen as a Sunni, a Shia doesn't want to be seen as a Shia.

SPIEGEL: Why is the political class that returned from exile with the help of American tanks, yourself included, so extremely incapable of finding even minimal compromises?

Allawi: Because the political process we have witnessed over the past seven years has been deeply corrupted and riddled by terror and violence. This process has not grown from Iraqi sources. It was a process guarded, even guaranteed by America. After such a process, where should compromise and stability come from? We should have linked our Status of Forces Agreement with the US to political reform.

SPIEGEL: You made headlines when you recently met with the Shia firebrand and former militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr, a man whose supporters tried to kill you in December 2005 in Najaf.

Allawi: This meeting happened, almost accidentally, in Damascus. I have always been against militias and will never change this attitude. To tell you the truth, I found this guy very honest, straightforward and uncomplicated. We have known his family of learned men for generations, so I asked him: None of your relatives has ever advocated sectarianism -- how come you have become part of a sectarian set-up? He answered: I am full-heartedly against sectarianism. I am all for an Iraqi solution for our problems, not a Shiite one.

SPIEGEL: Some experts see his mysterious retreat as the real reason behind Iraq's improvement in 2008. He was considered by many Iraqis and Americans to be "the most dangerous man in Iraq."

Allawi: If this was the case then all of us are dangerous. This man has 40 seats in parliament and has a grassroots movement in this country.

SPIEGEL: Do you expect him to return to Iraq and to politics?

Allawi: He should. It would be good for Iraq and his own people.

SPIEGEL: Which foreign power currently wields the most influence in Iraqi politics?

Allawi: Iran.

SPIEGEL: Can you elaborate?

Allawi: No.

SPIEGEL: Why not? Many countries are currently worried about Iran because of its nuclear program.

Allawi: For me, Iran's influence is not positive. I am certainly not an advocate of Iranian policies. I am even sure that they have a red line and a veto on me. But I think the world should engage and talk with Iran and try to see and feel where the fears of Iran lie. The Iranians are logical people. We should try to convince them that proliferation does not serve their purpose in the end.

SPIEGEL: You travel from one Arab capital to the other, you know all the Arab leaders and you also know that they are arming themselves. Allawi: Everybody is frightened. Every corner of the region is frightened. Even America is frightened, even Iran is frightened. We are heading towards a situation which almost compares to the Cuban crisis in 1962. There is an umbrella of fear spreading above us. Everybody should do his utmost to prevent tensions. I am calling for an international conference on the issue of proliferation.

SPIEGEL: Can Iraq live with a nuclear Iran?

Allawi: I don't think so.

SPIEGEL: Do you think that war will break out over Iran's nuclear program?

Allawi: It is a very high possibility.

Interview conducted by Bernhard Zand