September 24, 2007 (LPAC)--Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who has played a crucial leadership role in Ibero-America against the bankrupt IMF system and the destructive role of its neo-liberal policies, is under fierce pressure to change the subject.

Leaders of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, encouraged by the American Jewish Committee and World Jewish Congress in the U.S., are demanding that Kirchner use his Sept. 25 speech before the UN General Assembly to attack Iran for failing to cooperate in "clarifying" its alleged role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA social welfare center in Buenos Aires. Although evidence as to Iran's role is inconclusive at best, Kirchner had reportedly promised Jewish leaders and families of the 85 people killed in the bombing, that he would use his UN speech to chastise Iran, and to request further international assistance in this case.

This occurs just as the global financial system is disintegrating, and as Vice President Dick Cheney and his allies are intensifying their drumbeat for a military attack against Iran. Iran's charge d'affaires in Buenos Aires, Mohsen Baharvand, warned on Sept. 20 that if Kirchner attacked Iran during his speech, "many countries will interpret this as a sign that Argentina favors war [against Iran]."

Clarin observed on Sept. 21 that unlike previous UN appearances, "where attention was focussed on references to the IMF and the debt, over the past week expectations were directed toward mention of Iran" in President Kirchner's upcoming UN address.