Obama on Iran

Following is an excerpt from an interview with Barack Obama that will appear this weekend in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper, an Israeli news organization.

You have said you would be ready to talk to "enemy leaders." Some Israelis are skeptical that just by speaking with the leaders of Iran, you could prevent them from producing a nuclear weapon. If diplomacy fails, would you support using force against Iran, as Israel did against Iraq in 1981?

I don't believe that diplomacy alone will stop the Iranians from pursuing nuclear weapons. I believe it will require all facts of our national power to achieve this important goal.

The gravest threat to Israel today comes from Iran, where a radical regime continues to pursue the ability to build a nuclear weapon, and continues its support for terrorism across the region. President Ahmadinejad continues his offensive denials of the Holocaust, and his disturbing denunciations of Israel? Recently he referred to Israel as a "deadly microbe" and a "savage animal." Threats of Israel's destruction cannot be dismissed as rhetoric. The threat from Iran is real, and my goal as president will be to eliminate it.

The time has come to talk directly to the Iranians, and to lay out our clear terms: an end to their pursuit of nuclear weapons; an end to their support of terrorism; and an end to their threats against Israel and other countries in the region. To achieve this goal, I believe that we must be prepared to offer incentives like the prospect of better relations and integration in the international community; as well as disincentives like the prospect of increased sanctions.

What kind of nonsense is this "we must be prepared to offer incentives like the prospect of better relations and integration in the international community"? Does he really think that the Iranians care about that?

We now know that he will not use force against Iran. "[T]he prospect of increased sanctions" does not qualify as force. If they were a viable option we would not be in Iraq today. The only effect sanctions will have on Iran will be to let the whole issue fester until it is too late to deal with it. Iranian President Ahmadinejad is already defying the UN.

The U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran halt uranium enrichment, the part of its nuclear programme that most worries the West because the process can potentially be used to make material for bombs.

Iran has refused to halt the work. It says it is seeking to master nuclear technology so it can make fuel for a planned network of nuclear power plants and save its huge oil and gas reserves for export.

France and Britain have submitted a third sanctions resolution against Iran calling for measures including asset freezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials.

Sounds just like the song and dance we went through with Saddam. We all know how well that worked. The UN let resolution after resolution be passed and ignored until WE went in and did something about it. What planet is Obama from that he thinks it will be any different this time.

Obama will be the second coming of Jimmy Carter.






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