Posted on 02/17/2005 9:59:20 AM PST by IAF ThunderPilot
President George W. Bush on Thursday addressed the issue of Iran's possible nuclear armament, declining to offer his full endorsement of Europe's negotiations to get Iran to halt its suspected nuclear weapons program.
He said the United States and Europe share the goal that Iran must not develop a nuclear weapon. Still, he left it up in the air whether he fully supports Europe's approach.
"I look forward to ... discussing strategies, ways forward with the Europeans to make sure we continue to speak with one voice, and that is Iran should not have a nuclear weapon and how to work together to make sure they don't," Bush said.
Asked if was concerned that Israel might attack Iran to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Bush said Israel is concerned about Iran's intentions.
"But clearly, if I was the leader of Israel and I'd listened to some of the statements by the Iranian ayatollahs that regarded the security of my country, I'd be concerned about Iran having a nuclear weapon as well," Bush said.
He said Israel "is our ally and in that we've made a very strong commitment to support Israel, we will support Israel if her security is threatened."
Bush spoke at a news conference where he announced that John Negroponte, the US ambassador to Iraq, would be the first US director of national intelligence, the powerful overseer of all 15 intelligence agencies.
In addition, Bush said Syria was "out of step" with other nations in the Middle East and said the United States would work with other countries to pressure Damascus to remove its troops from Lebanon.
Bush said he did not know if Syria was involved in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
"I can't tell you yet," Bush said. "I don't know that. I'm going to withhold judgment until we know what the facts are."
Bush said he would consult with allies about Syria when he visits Europe next week, and said the United States supports an international investigation of Hariri's assassination.
The United States has withdrawn its ambassador to Syria, Margaret Scobey, and that "indicates that the relationship is not moving forward," the president said. He said Syria was "out of step with the progress being made in the greater Middle East."
The United States expected Syria to find and turn over former supporters of Saddam Hussein's regime and send them back to Iraq and stop supporting terrorism, Bush said. He said Syria also must comply with UN resolutions calling for it to withdraw from Lebanon. Syria has 15,000 troops in Lebanon.
Looking ahead to his European trip, Bush said he knows that some allies think that his only concern is national security, and he said that national security is at the top of his agenda.
Yet, he said, "We also care about hunger and disease. We care about the climate."
Many allies are upset with the United States for refusing to approve the Kyoto climate treaty.
"They thought the treaty made sense," Bush said. "I didn't." He noted that the Senate had voted 95-0 against the treaty. Yet, Bush said there were other ways to deal with the problem of global warming and that he would talk with allies about new technologies to deal with the issue.
Thats a good sentence as well!
hello IAF....good to see you again.
Have you read this yet?
Excerpt from Porter Goss's testimony before Congress, February 16, 2005:
____________________________________________________________
Begin Excerpt:
IRAN
In early February, the spokesman of Iran's Supreme Council for National Security publicly announced that Iran would never scrap its nuclear program. This came in the midst of negotiations with EU-3 members (Britain, Germany and France) seeking objective guarantees from Tehran that it will not use nuclear technology for nuclear weapons.
Previous comments by Iranian officials, including Iran's Supreme Leader and its Foreign Minister, indicated that Iran would not give up its ability to enrich uranium. Certainly they can use it to produce fuel for power reactors. We are more concerned about the dual-use nature of the technology that could also be used to achieve a nuclear weapon.
In parallel, Iran continues its pursuit of long-range ballistic missiles, such as an improved version of its 1,300 km range Shahab-3 MRBM, to add to the hundreds of short-range SCUD missiles it already has.
Even since 9/11, Tehran continues to support terrorist groups in the region, such as Hizballah, and could encourage increased attacks in Israel and the Palestinian Territories to derail progress toward peace.
Iran reportedly is supporting some anti-Coalition activities in Iraq and seeking to influence the future character of the Iraqi state.
Conservatives are likely to consolidate their power in Iran's June 2005 presidential elections, further marginalizing the reform movement last year.
Iran continues to retain in secret important members of Al-Qai'ida-the Management Council--causing further uncertainty about Iran's commitment to bring them to justice
End Excerpt
____________________________________________________________
Iran is a common enemy of the United States and Israel. I could think of no better friend than Israel to team up with to face these maniacs. I would be willing to bet it will happen sooner than later, because we both face the exact same threat.
>>>I do. Kill the terrorists. Stand up. Fight. Quit sitting back and taking it from the genocidal monsters. No negotiations. No land. No guns. No prisoners. No dialog. No appeasement. Kill them. Kill them. Kill them.
I'm for putting her in charge. ;7)
Ping.
Conjecture on my part:
Get Syria out of Lebanon, and take care of the leadership and nuke problem in Iran. Thus, the "Palestinians" who might soon have their "Palestine" (the nation being one neighborhood) and aren't about to quit being terrorists, will be more isolated, national, and finally, forced to take responsibility.
Or will it be on to the next terrorist supporting nation again?
Man, I'm laminating that for my wallet!
You may have it. :-)
That's what I think...But that's just me...and the Bible.
"It's not important what the world thinks, but what the Jews do"
-- Ben Gourion
G-D bless israel
i,we stand with you for ever.
i will fight hand to hand for israel.
my country deams me to old. BAH
i am one old grisled bast*rd and can fight and die
with OUR, or your best.
I think the guy is obviously speaking in politic-eze, because reality does not seem to apply here.
No it just means that all Muslims will go to hell from now on. Not a real change of the situation on the ground at all.
Yawn...
You have a point
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