Re: Senators Warn Against War with Iran

On Jan 31, 12:09 pm, NY.Transfer.N...@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
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Senators Warn Against War with Iran

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

AP - Jan 30, 2007http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAN?SITE=ILEDW&SECTION=HOM...

Senators Warn Against War With Iran

By ANNE GEARAN
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican and Democratic senators warned Tuesday
against a drift toward war with an emboldened Iran and suggested the
Bush administration was missing a chance to engage its longtime
adversary in potentially helpful talks over next-door Iraq.

"What I think many of us are concerned about is that we stumble into
active hostilities with Iran without having aggressively pursued
diplomatic approaches, without the American people understanding
exactly what's taking place," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told John
Negroponte, who is in line to become the nation's No. 2 diplomat as
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's deputy.

Obama, a candidate for president in 2008, warned during the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee hearing that senators of both parties will
demand "clarity and transparency in terms of U.S. policy so that we
don't repeat some of the mistakes that have been made in the past," a
reference to the faulty intelligence underlying the U.S. invasion of
Iraq.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., a possible presidential candidate, asked
Negroponte if he thinks the United States is edging toward a military
confrontation with Tehran. In response, Negroponte repeated President
Bush's oft-stated preference for diplomacy, although he later added,
"We don't rule out other possibilities."

Separately, the Navy admiral poised to lead American forces in the
Middle East said Iran wants to limit America's influence in the region.

"They have not been helpful in Iraq," Adm. William Fallon told the
Senate Armed Services Committee. "It seems to me that in the region, as
they grow their military capabilities, we're going to have to pay close
attention to what they do and what they may bring to the table."

The Bush administration has increased rhetorical, diplomatic, military
and economic pressure on Iran over the past few months, in response to
Iran's alleged deadly help for extremists fighting U.S. troops in Iraq
and the long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

Bush said Monday the United States "will respond firmly" if Iran
escalates military action in Iraq and endangers American forces. But
Bush emphasized he has no intention of invading Iran.

The president also acknowledged skepticism concerning U.S. intelligence
about Iran, because Washington was wrong in accusing Iraq of harboring
weapons of mass destruction before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. "I'm
like a lot of Americans that say, 'Well, if it wasn't right in Iraq,
how do you know it's right in Iran,'" the president said.

Washington accuses Iran of arming and training Shiite Muslim extremists
in Iraq. U.S. troops have responded by arresting Iranian diplomats in
Iraq, and the White House has said Bush signed an order allowing U.S.
troops to kill or capture Iranians inside Iraq.

The United States also accuses Iran of secretly developing atomic
weapons - an allegation Tehran denies. Iran's refusal to suspend
uranium enrichment lead the U.N. Security Council to impose limited
economic sanctions.

Senators including Hagel, George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Joseph R. Biden
Jr., D-Del., sounded frustrated with the administration's decision not
to engage Iran and fellow outcast Syria in efforts to reduce sectarian
violence in Iraq.

Negroponte, a career diplomat who is leaving a higher-ranked job as the
nation's top intelligence official, gave only a mild endorsement of the
administration's diplomatic hands-off policy toward Damascus and Tehran.

Negroponte would lead the department's Iraq policy if confirmed, as
expected. He said Syria is letting 40 to 75 foreign fighters cross its
border into Iraq each month and repeated the charge that Iran is
providing lethal help to insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. Iran
and Syria are not helping promote stability and peace in Iraq and
understand what the United States and other nation expect of them.

"I would never want to say never with respect to initiating a
high-level dialogue with either of these two countries, but that's the
position, as I understand it, at this time," Negroponte said.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to approve
Negroponte quickly for a job vacant since July.

© 2007 The Associated Press.

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Hey those who blew up WTC are in Afghanistan.
No No what a minute Sadam is helping them ,
But you know what IRAN is behind the whole thing.
Sorry .It was not IRAN .
It was my neighbour who parks his car on my lawn .Let's get him.

You wonder how super gullable American people are.

.