We must blockade Iran, says Republican hope [Fred Thompson]

The London Telegraph ^ | June 20, 2007 | David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent

[2ndDivisionVet]

Fred Thompson, the actor and former Senator widely seen as the Republicans' best hope for keeping the White House, called for a "blockade" of Iran yesterday.

The screen veteran, whose announcement as the eleventh contender for the Republican nomination is expected within days, also warned that "jihadists" were trying to bring the West to its knees.

Mr Thompson starred in Die Hard 2 and The Hunt for Red October before serving as Republican Senator for Tennessee.

During a visit to London, he delivered a hawkish lecture on foreign policy, singling out Iran's nuclear ambitions as a key threat to the West.

He recalled how President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad publicly threatened to "wipe Israel off the map".

He said: "When the president of Iran shares his nightmare visions before cheering crowds, those are not just a fanatic's version of an empty applause line. The only safe assumption is that he means it.

"If we know anything from modern history it is that when fanatical tyrants pledge to wipe out an entire nation, we should listen. We must gather our alliance and do all in our power to make sure that such men do not gain the capability to carry out their evil ambitions."

Mr Thompson said sanctions and diplomatic pressure should be used to compel Iran to obey three United Nations resolutions and stop enriching uranium. This highly sensitive process, now being done at Iran's nuclear plant in Natanz, can produce the material essential for a nuclear bomb.

The former Senator also suggested a more direct way of strangling Iran's economy. "A blockade would be a possibility if we could get the international cooperation, if in fact we're all reading off the same page and saw the nature of the threat," he said. "That would be one way to ensure that we didn't have to go to the military option."

Blockading Iran would technically be an act of war. It would involve using the US Navy's Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain - and the warships of any allied nation - to prevent shipping from reaching the Islamic republic's ports in the Gulf.

While choking the flow of imports into Iran, a blockade would also have worldwide repercussions by driving up the price of oil, possibly causing a global economic crisis.

During his lecture to Policy Exchange, a Right-wing think tank, Mr Thompson painted a bleak picture of a world torn by religious terrorism.

"The Western world is in an international struggle with jihadists who see this struggle as part of a conflict that has gone on for centuries and who won't give up until Western countries are brought to their knees," he said.

Mr Thompson, who is due to meet Baroness Thatcher today, said Britain was a vital ally.

He paid tribute to Tony Blair as a "statesman" and welcomed Gordon Brown as the "53rd prime minister of the United Kingdom".

Mr Thompson, 64, said: "We in the United States have never had occasion to doubt the fortitude and the faithfulness of the British people.

"As much as ever, we count ourselves lucky to call the United Kingdom our closest ally and we are proud to call you our finest friend."

[OKIEDOC]

My tag line says if not Duncan then Fred.

Many of my professional friends are withholding alignment until one or two strong candidates come to the fore.

I would think that Rudy will be strong and so will Fred.

I see McCaniac as a total looser due to the fiasco of McCaniac Feingold and Shamnesty.

Mitt has a rough road no matter what any of the magazine writers want to conjure up to keep readership.

I believe Mitt Romney is a good man.

Why?

Because I know many Mormons and they are basically good people who care about other people.

I have attended Mormon services and met the church followers and believe that to be a Mormon you have to be a certain quality of a person.

I would not be afraid to have Mitt as President if I did not have support for Duncan or Fred.

[WildcatClan]

We don’t need international cooperation. Outside the British and a few others it is purely symbolic anyway. International cooperation or no, it’s a bad idea and that is likely the reason he couched it in terms of “possibility.” This would only serve to bring us 5-7 dollar a gallon gas and place several other Nations in a recession, but little else. It would seem Fred needs a reminder that dictators and despots care little how the citizenry suffers and if he believes the Iranians will rise up and overthrow the current regime during a blockade, he needs a refresher course on despots and Islam. You go at the source of a problem by going after the source, not by playing patty-cakes with blockades and sanctions on the periphery.

[familyop]

" I see McCaniac as a total looser due to the fiasco of McCaniac Feingold and Shamnesty."

Fred Thompson voted in favor of McCain-Feingold in 1997. Much information will come out by voting time. Will voters believe what his campaign says about that or what he has done?

And on immigration issues, when the time comes, will voters believe the rhetoric or the record?

Negatives from Thompson’s voted record on immigration with only two terms in office (more details behind the link)
http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=TN&VIPID=743

Voted in 1996 to continue chain migration

Voted to strip legal reforms from 1996 bill

Voted in favor of chain migration in 1996

Voted for a foreign worker bill with no anti-fraud measures in 2000.

As Committee member, produced H-1B doubling bill in 1998

Nearly doubled H-1B foreign high-tech workers in 1998

Voted in committee against including worker safeguards in H-1B bill in 1998

Voted to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998

Voted to allow firms to lay off Americans to make room for foreign workers in 1998

Voted to grant amnesty to close to one million illegal aliens from Nicaragua and Cuba in 1997

In 1996, removed higher fines for businesses which hire illegal aliens

Tried to kill voluntary pilot programs for workplace verification in 1996

[OKIEDOC]

I don’t dispute what you write.

I am a Duncan Hunter guy first and then I am for who ever is voted to lead this party in the 2008 election.

I hate Democrats and every thing they stand for.

I beleive Democrats are out to destroy America as I was brought up and fought to know.

[familyop]

...sorry, if I appeared to be begging the question. I really wonder as to what most voters will believe, when the time comes. I suppose that we’ll have a better idea, by then, of the power of using the Internet as a tool (as sometimes opposed to information from television).

[cowdog77]

“I see your point, but there’s a lot of time ahead of us. Newt Gingrich said that he’ll announce in October.”
____________________
I’m holding my political cards close to my vest to see what shakes out...but I still like Newt, and he’s less prone to giving in on amnesty than some.

[nyyankeefan]

We must blockade Iran, says Republican hope [Fred Thompson]

at least someone speaks the truth that most think but are too pc or politcally timid to say or do!!!!

[kevkrom]

We don’t need international cooperation.

For a blockade to work, we will. Are you suggesting we fire on Russian (as an example) cargo ships because they don't respect our blockade of Iran?

[kevkrom]

Negatives from Thompson’s voted record on immigration

Which, by the way, is mostly Numbers USA complaining about votes on LEGAL immigration. That's a really cheap, shoddy tactic, conflating votes for legal immigration with those for illegal immigration.

Only the last three on the list really have anything to do with illegal immigration -- the first of those provided a limited amnesty for political refugees by clarifying their status under existing law. The other two were votes on amendments that may have been problematic for reasons other than the illegal immigration issue.

[eyedigress]

QUOTE ""Some of these problems might work in our favor especially if we ratcheted the sanctions a bit more. I would think that certainly a blockade would be a possibility if we could get the international cooperation to do that."

The word MUST escapes me here.

[WildcatClan]

I was referring to “international cooperation” only where being present with assets and seamen to enforce a blockade was concerned. My suggestion was that a blockade is an insipid and dim idea and would not be efficacious. If Iran’s Manhattan Project is the problem then a blockade is not the solution. It will just serve to tie up assets with no end in sight, initiate 5-7 dollar gasoline, ruin several national economies and little else.

[Rick_Michael]

He said if necessary we should blockade. Although the way it’s looking, it will probably be likely.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

“He even said that it’s “impossible” to deport all 12 million immigrants and that we should try to give them all citizenship. “

Liar liar! Please link us to where Fred ever said this.

I know you can’t.

Thanks for playing anyway.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

And yet the disgusting personality disorder that you obviously suffer from will remain unchecked. Sucks to be you.

[Old_Mil]

You’ve stated ‘Duncan can’t win several times’...and have yet to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why.

If enough conservatives pull the lever, he wins. If not, he doesn’t.

It’s one thing if he’s too conservative a choice for you but this ‘can’t win’ is nonsense.

[familyop]

"And yet the disgusting personality disorder that you obviously suffer from will remain unchecked. Sucks to be you."

...yet another example of the character behind the Thompson campaign--just as it was with the Giuliani herd. I've seen quite a few comments like that from Thompson supporters. Feminist arguments notwithstanding, we'll see the negative and positive information on the various candidates.

[wk4bush2004]

“On a path to citizenship: “[B]ecause we allowed ourselves to wait until we woke up one day and found 12 million illegals here, there’s no easy solution. And I think that you have to realize that you’re either going to drive 12 million people underground permanently, which is not a good solution. You’re going to get them all together and get them out of the country, which is not going to happen. Or you’re going to have to, in some way, work out a deal where they can have some aspirations of citizenship, but not make it so easy that it’s unfair to the people waiting in line and abiding by the law.” (Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes,” 4/3/06)” -—Fred Thompson

[perfect_rovian_storm]

THOMPSON: Well, that’s true, as a general statement. We woke up one day after years of neglect and apparently discovered that we have somewhere between 12 million and 20 million illegal aliens in this country. So it became an impossible situation to deal with.

I mean, there’s really no good solution. So what do you do? You have to start over. Well, I’m concerned about the next 12 million or 20 million. So that’s why enforcement, and enforcement at the border, has to be primary.

I think most people feel disillusioned after 1986 when we had this deal offered to them before, and now we’re insisting that, you know, we solve the security problem first, and then we’ll talk about what to do with regard to other things — certainly no amnesty or nothing blanket like that.

But figure out some way to make some differentiation between the kind of people that we have here.

You know, if you have the right kind of policies, and you’re not encouraging people to come here and encouraging them to stay once they’re here, they’ll go back, many of them, of their own volition, instead of having to, you know, load up moving vans and rounding people up. That’s not going to happen.

— Fox News Sunday, March, 11, 2007 -— Fred Thompson

[perfect_rovian_storm]

P.S.

Everyone should have SOME ASPIRATIONS of becoming an American citizen. People aspire to be citizens of the greatest country in the world.

[wk4bush2004]

“Everyone should have SOME ASPIRATIONS of becoming an American citizen. People aspire to be citizens of the greatest country in the world.”

I understand your point, but they need to do it legally. To enter this country, you should have a passport, no matter where you’re coming from. We should not reward those who break our laws. They need to be deported.