Overcome 'enemy' view of Iran, Pax Christi official tells Americans

Published: 2006-06-05

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Americans have to overcome a negative stereotype of Iran so that they can better assess Bush administration claims that the Muslim nation is planning to build nuclear weapons, said Dave Robinson, executive director of Pax Christi USA. "Enemy imaging dominates the U.S. media," he said. This makes Americans "easy targets" for accepting a U.S. "preventive war" against Iran rather than a negotiated solution, he said. "I have no idea if Iran has or not plans to make nuclear weapons," said Robinson. But the U.S. is promoting a fear that plans exist rather than saying it has evidence of a nuclear weapons program, he said. Robinson was interviewed June 2 by Catholic News Service after returning from a 12-day trip to Iran in May. He was part of a 25-member delegation of mostly U.S. peace activists organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, an international interfaith peace movement.

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