MERIP Media Resource List, April 13, 2006

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topics:
- Iranian nuclear ambitions and US policy
- Iraq's political impasse

KAVEH EHSANI
Kaveh Ehsani is an independent scholar based in Chicago. He is on the editorial boards of Middle East Report and Goft-o-gu (Dialogue) journal in Iran. He is the author of "High Stakes for Iran," Middle East Report (Summer 2003) and "Neo-Conservatives, Hardline Clerics and the Bomb," with Chris Toensing, Middle East Report (Winter 2004). He commented today: "Whether accurate or not, the latest reports of the Bush administration's war plans for Iran worsen a highly critical situation that can easily get out of hand, to the detriment of the entire region and global stability. While the Islamic Republic's hard-nosed posture and military exercises are aimed at forcing the US to the negotiation table, the Bush administration has shown unambiguously that it is not willing to consider any option short of the total capitulation of the Iranian regime and preferably its demise. This is a dangerous fantasy that could lead to a repeat of the Iraq fiasco, but on a much larger scale. There is no alternative but for the US and Iran to engage in direct and comprehensive negotiations, regarding all issues of mutual concern."

ERIK LEAVER
Erik Leaver is a research fellow with the peace and security program at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC and serves as the policy outreach director for the Foreign Policy In Focus project. His current work on Iraq includes a special focus on the costs of war, reconstruction, the constitution and the formation of the government. He commented today: "Even if a full-blown civil war is avoided at the moment and somehow a unity government is cobbled together, a heavy cloud of violence will hang over the country as the key questions that were avoided in the formation of the constitution -- federalism and the control of oil -- are revisited in the upcoming months. Instead of continuing to push for a unity government, the US would be wise to focus instead on calling for an international peace conference that includes all players in the conflict while setting forth a timetable for troop withdrawals in the hopes of diffusing the tensions that have arisen over the ill-advised political process and the ongoing US occupation."

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