Why Republicans Should Shut Up About Iran

Glenn Greenwald must have been reading my mind when he wrote his commentary about the situation in Iran and the Republican complaints that Obama isn't being aggressive enough in meddling in the crisis. Greenwald raises some serious ironies about the Republican position.

Rachel Maddow provided great coverage earlier this week on this situation and highlighted why Obama's more cautious and nuanced approach is most appropriate. Just when I had given up on Obama's foreign policy, he and his Administration decide to do something that actually makes sense.

Iran Election Rigged in Favor of Ahmadinejad

I can't say that I didn't expect this result. I expected it all along. But I didn't think they would do it so brazenly... ("Ahmadinejad Wins in Landslide"). Oh Please! With roughly 70% of the Iranian population being under the age of 30 and with young voters supporting the opponent Mousavi 2-1...sometimes 3-1... the results are pretty much a joke.

The danger of all this is that it creates the atmosphere for another major military conflict in the Middle East...at a time when the U.S. has its hands full playing Global Cop in other parts of the region. Not to mention the lunacy taking place with North Korea (partly the fault of U.S. policy). The phony election results in Iran will be used by the Mad Man of the Middle East, Benjamin Netanyahu, as an excuse to launch attacks on Iranian nuclear sites (attacks which won't knock out all of Iran's nuclear research and storage facilities). The chance of a military confrontation is an almost certainty at this point.... unless Obama can reach some sort of an agreement with Iran or unless Iran reaches a deal with the IAEA that satisfies the U.S., Israel and the UN Security Council. But this isn't likely. Israel will always be an obstacle to peace when it comes to Iran. Today, Netanyahu will give a so-called "Peace" policy speech (a "Peace" speech is an oxymoron if you're talking about Israel's foreign policy). There is nothing peaceful about Netanyahu's speech or about his intentions regarding foreign policy. Netanyahu is hoping to draw the U.S. into another conflict, so that he can use American blood to do his bidding. He sees Obama as a lightweight whom he can run over. The tail is definitely wagging the dog.

There's also the problem of Iran being a client State of Russia which is also a corrupt dictatorship. The Russians and the Chinese aren't likely to agree to any touch sanctions against Iran, meaning that an amicable solution is not likely to be reached via UN sanctions....because that tool probably isn't going to be available. Even if cosmetic sanctions were to be imposed... Russia, China and other nations friendly to Iran wouldn't honor their UN obligations. All of this raises the risk of military conflict.

Roxana Saberi Freed From Iranian Prison

From HuffingtonPost.com:

TEHRAN, Iran — An American journalist jailed for four months in Iran was freed Monday and reunited with her parents after an appeals court suspended her eight-year prison sentence on charges of spying for the U.S. Her parents said they would bring her home to the U.S. within days.

The release of Roxana Saberi, a 32-year-old dual Iranian-American citizen, clears a major snag in President Barack Obama's efforts to engage Iran in a dialogue after decades of shunning the country. Washington had called the charges against Saberi baseless and repeatedly demanded her release.

Saberi's arrest in late January, followed by a secretive, one-day trial and a heavy prison sentence, prompted sharp U.S. criticism. Soon after, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other officials appeared to back off, suggesting the sentence could be reversed.

On Monday, an appeals court reduced her jail term to a two-year suspended sentence, Iran's judiciary spokesman, Ali Reza Jamshidi, told reporters. Jamshidi said she was free to leave Iran.

"I'm very happy that she is free. Roxana is in good condition," Saberi's Iranian-born father Reza Saberi said after her release.

Rest of article at link above.

Don't say that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad doesn't know how to play ball. First, the public assertion that a two-state solution is acceptable. Now this. International Poker has just gotten more interesting.

Ahmadinejad tells Stephanopoulos: I Accept Two State Solution

From The Israel Policy Forum

Ahmadinejad tells Stephanopoulos: I Accept Two State Solution (Full Transcript of Interview)
MJ Rosenberg
Washington Director of Policy Analysis,
Israel Policy Forum
Posted April 26, 2009 - 7:09am
Washington, April 26

This is big news. George Stephanopoulos interviews President Ahmadinejad on “This Week” today and the Iranian President tells him that if the Palestinians and Israelis come to terms, he will accept Israel. Here is the relevant passage.

STEPHANOPOULOS: "If the Palestinians sign an agreement with Israel, will Iran support it?"

AHMADINEJAD: "Whatever decision they take is fine with us. We are not going to determine anything. Whatever decision they take, we will support that. We think that this is the right of the Palestinian people, however we fully expect other states to do so as well: the U.S. administration, European governments. The right to determine their fate by the Palestinians should be respected by all of them."

Ahmadinejad’s statement is his reponse to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demand that he will only engage in negotiations with the Palestinians if Iran’s anti-Israel stance and nuclear program are addressed first, an approach the Obama administration rejects. It believes that implementing the two-state solution must come first because resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will, in itself, help address the Iranian threat.

Ahmadinejad throws the ball back in Israel’s court. Make peace with the Palestinians and I’ll accept it, and you, too, he says.

This statement will strengthen Obama’s hand with Netanyahu. The neocons always want Ahmadinejad to play theiir game and promise to rain destruction on Israel. This time Ahmadinejad refused to play.

Obama’s approach seems to be making a differemce.

McCain Misrepresents Obama AGAIN on Iran

From The HuffingtonPost.Com:

McCain Confronted With New Iran Gaffe, Gets Facts Wrong Again (VIDEO)
The Huffington Post May 20, 2008 09:52 AM


Yesterday, Time's Joe Klein noted that he could find no evidence that Sen. Barack Obama had ever specifically said he would negotiate with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

On Friday, I promised to check into whether Obama had ever said that he would negotiate--specifically, by name -- with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Indeed, according to the crack Time Magazine research department and the Obama campaign, he never has. He did say that he would negotiate with the Iranian leadership -- but, on matters of foreign policy and Iran's nuclear program, the guy in charge is the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. As of today, John McCain was still accusing Obama of wanting to negotiate with Ahmadinejad. Why doesn't the McCain campaign and other assorted Republicans ever accuse Obama of wanting to negotiate with Khamenei? Well, because Khamenei isn't quite the flagrant anti-Semite Ahmadinejad is...and, as we keep hearing, Obama has a Jewish problem.


Later in the day, Klein confronted McCain with this question at a press conference. For a foreign policy "expert," McCain clearly has a pattern of getting the basic facts wrong. McCain insisted that ultimate political authority in Iran rests with Ahmadinejad -- even mocking Klein when he challenged him on it. In fact, according to the CIA's World Factbook, ultimate political authority in Iran rests with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, not the president.

Here's the exchange:

KLEIN: I've done some research, and um -

MCCAIN: I have too.

KLEIN: Also checked, also checked with the Obama campaign and he never, he's never sai -- mentioned Ahmadinejad directly by name. He did say he would negotiate with the leaders, but as you know - Ayatollah,

MCCAIN: (Laughing) Ahmadinejad is, was the leader.

KLEIN: But if -

MCCAIN: Maybe I'm mistaken.

KLEIN: Maybe you are, because -

MCCAIN: Maybe. I don't think so though.

KLEIN: The Supreme, you know, according to most diplomatic experts, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is the guy who's in charge of Iranian foreign policy and also in charge of the nuclear program, but you never mention him. Do you, you know, um, why do you always keep talking about Ahmadinejad since he doesn't have power in that, in that realm?

MCCAIN: Oh I thin-Again, I respectfully disagree. When he's the person that comes to the United Nations and declares his country's policy is the extermination of the state of Israel, quote, in his words, wipe them off of the map, then I know that he is speaking for the Iranian government and articulating their policy and he was elected and is running for reelection as the leader of that country. Yes sir, go ahead.

NEW REPORTER: One more quest-

MCCAIN: I mean, the fact is he's the acknowledged leader of that country and you may disagree, but that's a uh, that's your right to do so, but I think if you asked any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they'd know. Go ahead. Or anyone who's well-versed in the issue.

The rest of the article is at the link above.

**************************************************************


Don't get it twisted, and don't keep your eyes off the ball, JJP readers.

This "Obama has a problem with the Jews" memo is one that has been circulated every 10-14 days since he entered the race. There is a reason why Bush attacked Obama FROM THE STATE OF ISRAEL. There is a REASON for the 'Obama is a Muslim' smears, and when those began to fade, the ' You can't elect Obama because Radical Muslims would want to kill him for being an Apostate (ANOTHER LIE)'.

There is a point and purpose to this.

They don't have Khamenei on a Youtube's greatest Anti-Semitic Hits, denying the Holocaust and calling for the destruction of Israel the way that they do with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But, once again, Senator ' Straight Talk' McCain is caught not talking so straight.

Bush Attacks Obama in Israel; Joe Biden Responds-"This is bullshit"

Our President was at it again. Today, he compared Barack Obama to Nazi Appeasers. In Israel.

From The HuffingtonPost.com:

Bush Compares Obama To Nazi Appeasers
The Huffington Post
May 15, 2008 09:00 AM


President Bush has said repeatedly that he would not insert himself into the presidential race, but that stance changed dramatically today during his trip to Israel. After likening Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Osama bin Laden, Bush compared Barack Obama to Nazi appeasers:

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," said Bush, in what White House aides privately acknowledged was a reference to calls by Obama and other Democrats for the U.S. president to sit down for talks with leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Obama himself quickly responded to the comparison, calling it a false attack and listing past presidents who didn't think that diplomacy was such a bad idea:

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 6Oth anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack. It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel."

"Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power -- including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy -- to pressure countries like Iran and Syria. George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the President's extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel."

It was only yesterday that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates argued that United States needed to engage with Iran:

"We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them," Gates said. "If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us."

What are the odds that Bush says anything about what Gates just said?

Joe LIE-berman sided with the President (surprise...surprise...)

So, what did fellow Senator Joe Biden say?

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”

The man who brought us the worst foreign policy in a half century actually thinks he can credibly criticize ANYONE?

Puleeze.