VOA had a cool piece that prominently featured clips of Tom: Iran Seeks Greater Role in Middle East. This link includes a link to the mp3 of the piece that ran on VOA as well as a transcript. The main parts with Tom:

Political analyst Thomas Barnett, author of the book Blueprint for Action: A Future Worth Creating, in which he offers his vision for U.S. military strategy, says that for many years Iraq helped divert international attention from Iran's nuclear program. “Saddam was the big counterbalance to Iran for the last 25 years and he had a significant force. And as long as Saddam was around, not only was he a potential counterbalance to Iran's ambitions in the region, but he also attracted the vast majority of outside interest because of his actions. So what we basically did was we got rid of Saddam and we got rid of the Taleban, the two entities that were easily Iran's worst enemies in the region,” says Barnett.

Iran's Nuclear Ambitions

The removal of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq resulted in a shift of power from the Sunnis who had waged the 1980's war against Iran to the Shiites who make up the majority of the population in Iran as well as Iraq. Thomas Barnett says that by removing Iran's adversaries the U.S. helped Iran become the biggest military power in the region after Israel. However, he adds, Iran's fear of an attack from Israel or an invasion from the West has also increased. This has made Tehran determined to become a nuclear power. But Thomas Barnett says Tehran is more interested in creating a strong deterrent than in producing nuclear weapons.

“I think what they want to achieve, first and most obviously, is some sort of guarantee - however achieved - whether it's through negotiations over an entire array of possible security regimes connected to the weapons themselves, or their facilities themselves, or whether it just forces some sense of alliance between Iran and enough countries to include possibly the United States itself. They want some insurance that we are not going to invade them,“ says Barnett...

Alternative U.S. Strategies for Iran

Many analysts say bombing Iran would not eliminate its nuclear program because most of the facilities are deep underground and scattered around the country. And they warn that a U.S. attack could produce some unwanted results.

“It won't have much effect other than it will make us feel good. It will knock their program back a bit. They can always jack it up at that point. It will unite the Iranian people against us, which will be a shame because this is the population that actually likes us. It's the government that we have problems with. But the population overwhelmingly likes America, wants connectivity with America, does not want violence with America and really wants to engage the outside world,” says political analyst and author Thomas Barnett . He adds that instead of trying to isolate Iran, the United States should tap into the desire of young Iranians to be connected with the rest of the world. The majority of Iran's population, about 70 percent, is under the age of 30.

Barnett says, for example, the United States might accommodate Iran on its nuclear ambitions if Tehran recognized Israel's right to exist and renounced its support of terrorist groups.

The piece closes with fear. Am I reading this right that VOA, as an official mouthpiece of American foreign policy, has to be sure to leave us with the party line?