Posted on 06/27/2006 6:52:50 AM PDT by edpc
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected the prospect of talks with the United States on the nuclear program, saying nothing would be gained, state television reported Tuesday.
"Negotiations with the United States would have no benefit for us, and we do not need them," the television quoted Khamenei as telling Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.
Developing...
He knows he is winning.
He is just spouting the same democrat talking points Madeline Halfbrite used this weekend. The dems oppose one on one talks also. In doesn't pass Kerrys "global test" aparently.
Fine. The bombings begin in 5 minutes.
/Wishful Thinking
This is good news!
I hope they next call for the nuclear destruction of Isreal. Since, we cannot convince other world powers of the urgency, maybe Iran will finally do it for us.
Now, If we could just get Kim to test fire his missle, the mighty pacifists of the world might shake the slumber from their head and put on a more appropriate hat.
I predict this same headline will appear in two weeks. Then two weeks after that. Then one month later. Then again in...
Reminds me of my sister.
I get so frustrated at my sister when she brings her kids over. She says constantly, "stop, stop, stop, stop, don't do that, stop, stop, stop." A broken record, I tell ya.
Wake me up when something happens.
For some reason, all of the bowing and scraping the West is doing appears to be giving Iran the idea that we're a bunch of weak dhimmis....
He's right, talks are not beneficial. They have not worked for N Korea or Iraq...its time to put up or shut up.
Buh-bye, Mr. Ayatollah.
I understand why they are doing the diplomatic dance. All this 'rush to war' talk about Iraq was crap. It only took us about 12 years to hold Saddam accountable for the cease-fire conditions. Anyhow, we can now safely say they are no longer interested in diplomacy. They've said it themselves.
Iraqi leader rejects international talks
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's president on Sunday rejected suggestions that an international conference be held to address the violence wracking his country, echoing sentiments expressed by other leading politicians.
"We are an independent and a sovereign nation and it is we who decide the fate of the nation," President Jalal Talabani said after meeting with Rep. Christopher Shays (news, bio, voting record), R-Conn.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, reported that nine Americans died in weekend fighting in the Baghdad area and restive Anbar province, west of the capital.
A U.S. airstrike flattened a building in Iraq's volatile west, killing two women and a toddler during combat that also killed six militants, the military said Sunday. It was the latest of several recent raids that have caused casualties among women and children.
Talabani, a Kurd, holds a largely ceremonial post. But his comments echoed those voiced by other politicians, including a leader from Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, which is the dominant force in the U.S.-backed government.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari questioned the aim of the international conference suggested last week by outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Zebari said it would only be welcome if it supported current efforts to solve Iraq's security problems and assist the government.
"Is it to take the political process back to square one and review all that is done in the past three years? If this is the aim, then we reject it," said Zebari, also a Kurd.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, one of Iraq's top Shiite politicians, rejected the idea Saturday while in Amman, Jordan, saying it would be unrealistic to debate Iraq's future outside the country. He said Iraq's government was the only party qualified to find solutions.
But former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite with close Washington links, disagreed, saying Iraq cannot solve its problems alone.
"It needs the participation and support of everyone and that's a debt owed to the people of Iraq by foreign nations — to support Iraq and stop the bloodshed," he said in an interview on Al-Jazeera TV.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. to be aired Monday, Annan said the level of violence in Iraq was much worse than other recent civil wars. He also agreed that the average Iraqi's life is worse now than it was under Saddam Hussein's regime.
"Given the level of violence, the level of killing and bitterness and the way that forces are arranged against each other, a few years ago when we had the strife in Lebanon and other places, we called that a civil war. This is much worse," Annan said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the BBC Sunday night.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military said the airstrike deaths occurred during a hunt for foreign fighters, saying intelligence reports had verified men were inside the attacked buildings. U.S. forces have accused militants of taking over buildings as safe houses and using civilians as human shields.
Coalition ground and air units killed six insurgents and captured three while destroying the two buildings in Karmah in Anbar province, the military said. In the wreckage of one, troops also found a weapons cache and the bodies of two women and a boy believed to be younger than 2, the military said.
Dr. Abdul-Hakim al-Dulaimi, director of the emergency room at Karmah Hospital, about 50 miles west of Baghdad, said 12 bodies were brought in Sunday morning: nine Iraqi men, two women in their 40s and a 3-year-old boy.
The pilot of an F-16 fighter jet that went down elsewhere in Anbar last Monday was declared killed in action by the U.S. Air Force on Sunday. It said DNA analysis had confirmed remains found at the crash site 20 miles northwest of Baghdad were those of Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, 34.
The U.S. military also announced the combat deaths of nine Americans — one in Baghdad and two north of Baghdad on Sunday, one near Taji north of the capital Saturday and five in Anbar province on Saturday.
Saddam Hussein's lawyers formally appealed the death sentence imposed on their client after he was convicted in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims.
Five Iraqi judges sentenced Saddam and two other senior members of his regime to death by hanging Nov. 5 for the killings of residents from Dujail, a town north of Baghdad where an assassination attempt was made on Saddam in 1982.
Under Iraqi law, death sentences are automatically appealed to a higher court within 10 days of their passage. But defense lawyers must file a formal appeal within 30 days, detailing the legal grounds for their action and presenting any new evidence that could support their clients' claims of innocence. The lawyers could also make a plea for leniency.
Saddam's chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said two lawyers on the defense team had submitted the papers. He complained that defense lawyers had not received copies of the verdict until Nov. 23, delaying the appeal.
"Finally we were able to do it," al-Dulaimi said. "We had to hastily prepare the appeal because the court procrastinated in giving us the documents necessary for the submission in a bid to obstruct the appeal process."
Saddam's second trial on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising from a military crackdown on Iraq's Kurd population in 1987-88 resumes Monday.
Car bombs and other attacks killed at least 18 people across Iraq.
At least 71 bodies — apparent victims of sectarian death squads — also were found, including 51 in Baghdad, 16 in Baqouba and four south of the capital.
One of the bodies in Baghdad was that of Hadib Majhoul, the Sunni Arab chairman of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs who had been kidnapped three days earlier in the city.
___
Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Hamza Hendawi in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Egypt, contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_061203231447
Iraqi leader rejects international talks ping.
BAGHDAD, Iraq: Iraqi politicians appeared divided Sunday over a suggestion for an international conference on Iraq, with the president joining a powerful Shiite politician in rejecting it and a former prime minister welcoming it.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, rejected the proposal.
"We have an ongoing political process and a council of representatives (parliament) that is the best in the region. We are an independent and a sovereign nation and it is we that decide the fate of the nation," he said in a statement.
The comments by Talabani, whose job is largely ceremonial, were made after he met in Baghdad with Rep. Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut.
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Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari also questioned the aim of the suggestion by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying it would only be welcome if it supports current efforts to solve Iraq's security problems and assist the government.
Annan, who is nearing the end of his second and final term at the helm of the United Nations, said last week that such a conference on Iraq could be useful if the groundwork was carefully prepared and all political parties could be brought together outside Iraq.
"Is it to take the political process back to square one and review all that is done in the past three years? If this is the aim, then we reject it," said Zebari, also a Kurd.
Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, one of Iraq's top Shiite politicians, also rejected the conference Saturday in Amman, Jordan, saying it would be "unrealistic" to debate Iraq's future outside the country and Iraq's government was the only party qualified to find a solution to Iraq's conflict.
But former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite with close Washington links, disagreed, saying Iraq could not solve its problems alone.
"It needs the participation and support of everyone and that's a debt owed to the people of Iraq by foreign nations — to support Iraq and stop the bloodshed," he said in an interview on Al-Jazeera TV.
"It is in the interest of the region and Iraq to have an international and regional consensus in dealing with the situation in Iraq. The issue of Iraq is not local. It is international," he added.
Allawi became Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein prime minister in June 2004, when the United States formally ended its 14-month occupation of Iraq. He heads a secular parliamentary bloc that's overshadowed by the country's powerful Shiite and Sunni religious parties.
Talabani said fighting "terrorism" and opening a dialogue with "forces opposed to the political process" — political parlance for members of Saddam's Baath party and other factions in the Sunni-led insurgency — take precedence over dealing with the threat posed by militias.
"As for the militias, there is a law that governs their disbanding," Talabani said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/03/africa/ME_GEN_Iraq_International_Conference.php
Click on link for more.
Iranian or Iraqi? Not that it is much of a distinction....
Hey, I have a really neat idea. We should go grovel to the UN and have the Security Council vote on a mandate that requires the US to assemble a coalition and overthrow the Iranian government at a cost of about $300 Billion a year. If the going gets rough, we can excuse Spain, Italy, Japan, and any other country that pushes back. The good news is that the UN will renew the mandate every year for perpetuity! That will show the Terrorists a thing or two about messing with the American people!
Indeed. Iran has outplayed the US and rest of the West for about the last five years, and we are running out of options as we speak. Iran has the initiative, as indicated by this statement, which I believe is accurate from their point of view. Suppose we entered talks--what do we have to offer them that would even begin to get them to reconsider their nuclear program? Sanctions? They can buy anything they want from Russia and China, and sell China all the oil they can pump.
I dunno, maybe James Baker can think of something. /sarc
Thanks for the pings.
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