The Iranian Nuclear Dilemma: Risk of an Iraq Sequel?

A panel discussion featuring:

Hans Blix Former Director General of the IAEA		Colin Kahl Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East		Robert Kelley Former Chief Inspector for the IAEA in Iraq		Moderator: Trita Parsi President, National Iranian American Council

Hosted by NIAC on Tuesday, February 21^st, 2012.  Transcript available here.  For highlights, see here.

 

 

Less than a decade after allegations of Iraqi weapons programs pitted the Bush Administration, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the international community in a high stakes drama that ended in a devastating conflict and occupation, war again appears on the horizon—this time with Iran. But while fears of an Iranian aspiration for nuclear weapons have heightened the threat of another disastrous war, the Iranian nuclear dilemma is far from unresolvable. 

Dr. Hans Blix served as Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1981 to 1997.  He was appointed to lead the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission from 2000 to 2003 and was at the center of IAEA inspection efforts in Iraq prior to the Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Dr. Colin Kahl served as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East from 2009 to 2011, developing and implementing the U.S. Defense Department’s strategy regarding Iran.  He recently published “Not Time to Attack Iran” in Foreign Affairs.

Robert Kelley served as a member of the IAEA Iraq Action Team in 2003 and was Chief Inspector for the IAEA in Iraq, South Africa, and Libya.  He questioned the evidence presented in the November 2011 IAEA report on Iran, in a Bloomberg piece, “Nuclear Arms Charge Against Iran Is No Slam Dunk”.

 

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The views of the speakers are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Iranian American Council.