Comparing Iran to Nazi Germany is excessive and unconstructive, says Robert Malley, a former U.S. national security adviser to the Bill Clinton administration.
In an interview yesterday at the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa, Robert Malley, who heads the International Crisis Group’s Middle East section, denounced such comparisons at a time when the crisis over Iran’s nuclear disputes is deepening.
His statements come just days after Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird made such a comparison during his trip to Israel.
Malley told the Canadian Press: “I think there’s been a breathless quality to what people have said about Iran, sometimes comparing them to Hitler and the 1930s. I’ve heard some of the politicians in my country say that. Again, I have no idea what’s being said here .”
In an interview on CTV, Baird suggested that in view of comments by Iran’s Supreme Leader referring to Israel as “cancer” in need of removal from the Middle East, Israel has every right to feel threatened and plan retaliation.
However Malley emphasized that the rhetoric “has got out of whack on both sides.”
“I don’t know that it helps to build one’s enemies, the West’s enemies, into greater powers than they are. The U.S. did it with Saddam Hussein," said Malley. "I don’t know how useful that is."
While the West has continuously expressed concern that Iran’s nuclear program has a nuclear component, Iran has constantly denied the charges and insists that its nuclear activities are peaceful.
Israel has stated that it is prepared to make a military strike on Iran in order to halt the possible development of nuclear weapons. Iran has dismissed the threats and maintains that it will respond to any such move in kind.
