Obama Rebuffs Defense Establishment's Hunger for Conflict with Iran

By Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service
Posted on August 31, 2010, Printed on September 1, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/148043/

WASHINGTON -- United States President Barack Obama's refusal in a White House briefing this month to announce a "red line" in regard to Iran's nuclear program represented another in a series of rebuffs of pressure from Defense Secretary Robert Gates for a statement that the US will not accept its existing stocks of low enriched uranium.

The Obama rebuff climaxed a months-long internal debate between Obama and Gates over the "breakout capability" issue that surfaced in the news media last April.