Posted on 10/21/2012 3:46:12 AM PDT by markomalley
Israel's vice prime minister said on Sunday he would welcome direct talks between the United States and Iran if they were aimed at halting what Israel sees as plans by the Islamic Republic to build a nuclear weapon.
But Moshe Yaalon also said that he believed a denial by the White House of a New York Times report that Washington and Tehran had agreed in principle to hold bilateral negotiations.
Israel has said it could use military force to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, and it has had differences with Washington over when Tehran would actually cross the "red line" to atomic weapons capability.
"(Israel) doesn't oppose this," Yaalon said of the prospect of talks. "If Iran stops its military nuclear project as a result of direct contacts with the United States, we will be the first to welcome this."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Do you welcome talks if the sole purpose is to increase 0's election chances? Do you welcome talks if it buys you a two week nuclear hudna?
Someone like Plouffe must have leaked this story to the NYT to help Obama before the debate Monday night. What the WH official must have overlooked is that we already have a multilateral forum for these negotiations, the P5+1. The US going it alone would piss off our allies who are participating with us in the sanctions. And if Israel was unaware of such talks, they have every right to be pissed.
Now it appears the Administration is walking this back. Either the NYT made this story up or it is being thrown under the bus. Either way, it is not good for Obama.
Lieberman needs to remember that he's dealing with Democrats and remember the Vietnam war. Bombing was working, so Democrats worked to stop it.
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