Iran and the US talking? This isn't good
Readers know that Marcie and I support the president. We voted for him (I did twice; Marcie participated in voting for the first time it was legal for her in 2004), and we have supported his decisions despite our disagreements with him. He is the commander-in-chief and President of the United States. He is owed the respect his office demands. (I did no less for President Clinton despite my misgivings about him, and the ideological divide.)
Iran has been an enemy of the United States since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. There is simply no reason whatsoever we should be talking to them. They are openly hostile to us and our allies. They have sent fighters into Iraq to kill our troops. They have sent munitions and explosives into Iraq to kill our troops. And they are working towards gaining nuclear weapons to attack Israel, and any other Western target they so choose. And Charles Johnson, of Little Green Footballs points this story out which doesn't make either of us happy at all:
The United States and Iran broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze Monday with a four-hour meeting about Iraqi security. The American envoy said there was broad policy agreement, but that Iran must stop arming and financing militants who are attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told The Associated Press that the two sides would meet again in less than a month. U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Washington would decide only after the Iraqi government issued an invitation.
“We don’t have a formal invitation to respond to just yet, so it doesn’t make sense to respond to what we don’t have,” Crocker told reporters after the meeting.
The talks in the Green Zone offices of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were the first formal and scheduled meeting between Iranian and American government officials since the United States broke diplomatic relations with Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy.
An AP reporter who witnessed the opening of the session said Crocker and Kazemi shook hands.
The American envoy called the meeting "businesslike" and said at "the level of policy and principle, the Iranian position as articulated by the Iranian ambassador was very close to our own."
However, he said: "What we would obviously like to see, and the Iraqis would clearly like to see, is an action by Iran on the ground to bring what it's actually doing in line with its stated policy."
Speaking later at a news conference in the Iranian Embassy, Kazemi said: "We don't take the American accusations seriously."
Crocker declined to detail what Kazemi had said in the session, but the Iranian diplomat — formerly a top official in the elite Revolutionary Guards Quds Force — said he had offered to train and equip the Iraqi army and police to create "a new military and security structure" for Iraq.
Anyone else think this is a bad idea. I sure as Hell do. Talk about making a deal with the devil. Iran has been trying to destabilize the new Iraqi government for months, and relying on Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army to do the bulk of the work. This is a bad decision by both sides, Iraqi and America. I know the president calls the shots, but trying to make nice with a pitbull is no way to run diplomacy.
Iran needs to have the screws put to it rather than having a tea party. They're trying to build nukes, and in a world like ours is today, a radical Islamic nation that has directly threatened an ally shouldn't be allowed man's most destructive weapons. Worse, this looks like capitulation to a nation that supports enemies like ours 100 times more than any other. The interesting part of this story is the twist with Israel:
Israeli officials in Washington, who have been in close touch with the US about Iran, said they understood the meeting was held to deal with the need to stabilize Iraq.
"We don't have a problem with America talking to Iran about Iraq as such," said one Israeli diplomat. The issue, he continued, would be the context of any conversation about the Iranian nuclear program. On that front, he said, it would be important that any American contacts were premised on Iran halting its enrichment activities.
He said the US agreed that "the whole nuclear issue is still another channel" and that talks on that subject have to be based on suspension.
Regardless of whether or not the nuclear subject is broached, we're not happy with US diplomats speaking to elements of Iran. It smacks of accepting the Baker Commission's recommendations to open a dialogue with Iran -- a nation that is openly sponsoring a terrorist organization, and one that has sent it's Quds force commanders into Iraq to train and supervise insurgents against our troops.
Enough is enough. The only thing Iran's interested in is hurting this nation, and they're doing it in Iraq. If I were the president, I wouldn't being saying one word to the Iranians. But I'm not. I don't have to like the decision, but I do have to accept it. The president chooses this path, then he does so on his own without our support. But he takes this route with a warning:
You can't trust the Iranians. In the end they will stab us in the back, and do the same to Iraq. This is a bad move regardless of the so-called "businesslike" demeanor of the talks.
Publius II
Iran has been an enemy of the United States since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. There is simply no reason whatsoever we should be talking to them. They are openly hostile to us and our allies. They have sent fighters into Iraq to kill our troops. They have sent munitions and explosives into Iraq to kill our troops. And they are working towards gaining nuclear weapons to attack Israel, and any other Western target they so choose. And Charles Johnson, of Little Green Footballs points this story out which doesn't make either of us happy at all:
The United States and Iran broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze Monday with a four-hour meeting about Iraqi security. The American envoy said there was broad policy agreement, but that Iran must stop arming and financing militants who are attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi told The Associated Press that the two sides would meet again in less than a month. U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Washington would decide only after the Iraqi government issued an invitation.
“We don’t have a formal invitation to respond to just yet, so it doesn’t make sense to respond to what we don’t have,” Crocker told reporters after the meeting.
The talks in the Green Zone offices of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki were the first formal and scheduled meeting between Iranian and American government officials since the United States broke diplomatic relations with Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the seizure of the U.S. Embassy.
An AP reporter who witnessed the opening of the session said Crocker and Kazemi shook hands.
The American envoy called the meeting "businesslike" and said at "the level of policy and principle, the Iranian position as articulated by the Iranian ambassador was very close to our own."
However, he said: "What we would obviously like to see, and the Iraqis would clearly like to see, is an action by Iran on the ground to bring what it's actually doing in line with its stated policy."
Speaking later at a news conference in the Iranian Embassy, Kazemi said: "We don't take the American accusations seriously."
Crocker declined to detail what Kazemi had said in the session, but the Iranian diplomat — formerly a top official in the elite Revolutionary Guards Quds Force — said he had offered to train and equip the Iraqi army and police to create "a new military and security structure" for Iraq.
Anyone else think this is a bad idea. I sure as Hell do. Talk about making a deal with the devil. Iran has been trying to destabilize the new Iraqi government for months, and relying on Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army to do the bulk of the work. This is a bad decision by both sides, Iraqi and America. I know the president calls the shots, but trying to make nice with a pitbull is no way to run diplomacy.
Iran needs to have the screws put to it rather than having a tea party. They're trying to build nukes, and in a world like ours is today, a radical Islamic nation that has directly threatened an ally shouldn't be allowed man's most destructive weapons. Worse, this looks like capitulation to a nation that supports enemies like ours 100 times more than any other. The interesting part of this story is the twist with Israel:
Israeli officials in Washington, who have been in close touch with the US about Iran, said they understood the meeting was held to deal with the need to stabilize Iraq.
"We don't have a problem with America talking to Iran about Iraq as such," said one Israeli diplomat. The issue, he continued, would be the context of any conversation about the Iranian nuclear program. On that front, he said, it would be important that any American contacts were premised on Iran halting its enrichment activities.
He said the US agreed that "the whole nuclear issue is still another channel" and that talks on that subject have to be based on suspension.
Regardless of whether or not the nuclear subject is broached, we're not happy with US diplomats speaking to elements of Iran. It smacks of accepting the Baker Commission's recommendations to open a dialogue with Iran -- a nation that is openly sponsoring a terrorist organization, and one that has sent it's Quds force commanders into Iraq to train and supervise insurgents against our troops.
Enough is enough. The only thing Iran's interested in is hurting this nation, and they're doing it in Iraq. If I were the president, I wouldn't being saying one word to the Iranians. But I'm not. I don't have to like the decision, but I do have to accept it. The president chooses this path, then he does so on his own without our support. But he takes this route with a warning:
You can't trust the Iranians. In the end they will stab us in the back, and do the same to Iraq. This is a bad move regardless of the so-called "businesslike" demeanor of the talks.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 1:16 AM
1 Comments:
As I understand the Qu'ran, Allah told Mohammad it's okay to lie and deceive your enemies. Iran is Muslim. Iran is our enemy. Enough said. Rawriter
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