Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change

by Scott Ritter

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Scott Ritter's War on Iraq was embraced by the antiwar movement in America even though his claims that Iraq had been effectively disarmed were ignored by both the Bush administration and the mainstream media. In the wake of the debacle, Ritter has been vindicated. Now Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector, has set his sights on the White House's hyping of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. In Target Iran he once again sets the record straight.

This book offers Ritter's “national intelligence assessment” of the Iranian imbroglio. He examines the Bush administration's regime-change policy and the potential of Iran to threaten U.S. national security interests. The author also considers how the country is seen by other interested parties, including the United Kingdom (Tony Blair may once again be called upon by Bush to provide an international “cover” in any confrontation), Israel (the Israelis view Iran as their number one threat today), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (responsible for inspecting the alleged nuclear program).

Genres: Iran, Politics, History, Nonfiction, Middle East

316 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 2006

Reviews

[Mohamed Habashy · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب مُميز جداً وواجب القراءه علي من يهتمون بالسياسات الدوليه ودراسة مدي العلاقات الدوليه بين دول العالم الكبري "العظمي". وعندما يُنسب الكلام الي سكوت ريتر يجب أن يُأخذ علي محمل الجد والصدق, يأخذنا سكوت ريتر في رحله الي الفناء الخلفي لواشنطن ويعرض علينا الإزدواجيه في السياسات التي تحكم الولايات المتحده بها شعبها وتريد أن تحكم بها العالم فهي تحارب الإرهاب في العراق بينما تدعمه من أجل إسقاط نظام الملالي في إيران "دعم المجلس الوطني للمقاومه في إيران وهوا الوجهه السياسيه لمجاهدي خلق والتي سجلتها الولايات المتحده بأنها منظمه إرهابيه". الكتاب يعبر عن رعب الإسرائيلين وهواجسهم الفارغه من الدوله الإيرانيه وهذا الرعب كان في السابق من النظام العراقي "صدام حسين" والذي دفع أمريكا الي غزو العراق تحت زعم التفتيش أو إزالة أسلحة الدمار الشامل ولكن الحقيقه تكمن وراء رغبة الأمريكان وبوش في تنفيذ رغبة الحليف والمُخلص "إسرائيل" في تغيير النظام العراقي التي رأت إسرائيل بأنه يهدد أمنها. ووراء هذه الرغبي تبذل الولايات المتحده خالص جهدها في السعي علي تغيير النظام الإيراني الذي تري بأنه نظام داعم للإرهاب ونعته بوش بأنه من دول محور الشر في العالم وتعمل الولايات المتحده علي ذلك تحت غطاء عدم سلمية البرنامج النووي الإيراني وبنفس الذريعه التي دخلت بها العراق وغزتها تريد فعل ذلك في إيران لتقويض نظام الملالي في إيران.. ويضم الكتاب في ثناياه طرق تعامل وسياسات الدول الأوربيه الكبري المتمثله في دول الترويكا الأوربيه أو روسيا والصين مع المشكله ومع الولايات المتحده في سياستها العدوانيه والهجوميه.

[Karen Arakelian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I was born in Iran a Christian family lived there for 25 years and I'm telling you, the government wont hesitate to get its hands on nukes. Even though no one has ever been able to confirm that Iran's nuclear program has a military side.
But It's not surprising at all!! Which country does not want nukes in its arsenal? Iran has all the reasons to feel like she needs nukes. Israel has somewhere between 300 to 600 nukes with long range missiles capable of targeting every country in middle-east and constantly threats Iran. US is another major reason that makes Iranian government feel unsecure and actually drives them toward aquiring nuclear weapons.
Ritter is one of favorite individuals. He is smart, brave and he is a brilliant speaker. Every one who likes this sort of issues should see his videos in google video and youtube.

[Aaron Dellutri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scott Ritter easily cuts through the layers of bullshit and the whirlwind of White House spin to point out that there's no evidence of Iran ever having a nuclear weapons program, or planning to attack Israel. Ritter, a guy who knows the Middle East better than most people on this planet, describes why the USA should abandon its unexamined prejudices toward the state of Iran and choose a path of engagement rather than attack or subversion. Ritter is not optimistic about this possibility, but considers it important enough to try anyway. Some of the most detailed, complete, in-depth descriptions of the truly dangerous currents swirling around Iran, the USA, Israel, and the whole Middle East at this time. At times, the sheer level of detail makes this a tough read, but you will emerge with a deeper level of understanding toward this issue.

[Judith Bello · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a detailed description of Iran and the IAEA Process, how inspections are down at suspected Nuclear Facilities, what are the rights of NPT signatories, how the US and Isreal have coopted the diplomatic process to their own agendas.

[Afshin Afshar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting summarized version of the events leading to 2009 when a military conflict in Iran seemed inevitable. It is particularly interesting to read the book 6 years later in the wake of the nuclear agreement with Iran and get some historical perspective on what lead us here.

[Ramin · Rating 5 out of 5]

good for those who dont want to get their news from fox or mcdonalds :-)

[Elizabeth Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Ritter points out, Iran has a very real, and very complicated history of nuclear research and development - much more than Iraq, which never came close to any sort of nuclear capability. But, as this book points out, Iran also has much greater potential for upsetting the balance of peace and world power. Ritter traces the history of Iran's nuclear R&D, which it contends is for energy purposes only, and the history of the U. S. government's touch reactions to each step in that history. The final impression is scary - it's possible to believe Iran's side of the story, and very possible to believe that the U.S. will plow right ahead with a regime-change agenda that could change the face of the world as we know it, forever. It's not a pretty picture. Overall, I'd give the information here four or five stars...but the book itself is a rather dense read, and is also full of typos, hinting that it was rushed to press (a good thing for its topicality but not so good for a truly readable polish).

[Zachary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and comprehensive insider analysis of the Iranian nuclear "crisis" and its discontents by a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq. The subtitle is a bit misleading; this book addresses the politics of nuclear inspection more than it does White House contingency plans. My only major criticism is that Nation Books needs to find a decent editor. Grammatical and spelling errors aside--and I know I'm a grammar nut--there are single pages where names are spelled two different ways: Ariel/Arial Sharon, Michael Leeden/Ledeen, Mohammad El-Baradei/Baredei, and many, many more. Seriously though, at a time when an MEK affiliate like Alireza Jafarzadeh can release a book and receive Congressional endorsements (not to mention top-shelf marketing at Barnes & Noble), Ritter's book serves as a desperately needed intervention.

[Greg Labelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iran will not have the ability to create weapons grade uranium with their cascading technology due to the fact that all uranium indigenous to that area is contaminated with the element Molybdenum, which Iran cannot remove at their current level of technology. They will not have the tech. for this application of nuclear power (weapons grade uranium) for at least another 10 years.

[Teri Gaddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iran has done the same thing that got Iraq in trouble.. it switched from using the US $Dollar for exchange of oil to the Euro. This causes a great fear to ripple through the White House. Iran needs nuclear power. Tehran with over 11 million people see the following link http://bmspages.com/iranTehran.jsp has power outages everday because they don't have enough.

[Burkey]

interesting topic, i wanted joelle to be wrong. i wanted it to be an interesting read. a lot of facts, ritter knows his stuff, as long as "stuff" does not include how to portray the information in a reasonably accessible form.