Posted on 02/01/2006 10:45:07 AM PST by GeneD
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - President George W. Bush vowed on Wednesday the United States will rise to Israel's defense if needed against Iran and denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for "menacing talk" against Israel.
In a Reuters interview aboard Air Force One en route to Nashville, Bush also said he saw a "very good chance" that the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency will refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
"I am concerned about a person that, one, tries to rewrite the history of the Holocaust, and two, has made it clear that his intentions are to destroy Israel," Bush said.
"Israel is a solid ally of the United States, we will rise to Israel's defense if need be. So this kind of menacing talk is disturbing. It's not only disturbing to the United States, it's disturbing for other countries in the world as well," he added.
Asked if he meant the United States would rise to Israel's defense militarily, Bush said: "You bet, we'll defend Israel."
Ahmadinejad has prompted international condemnation for anti-Israel rhetoric in recent weeks, including saying it should be wiped off the map, and also calling into question the Holocaust.
Iran is engaged in a stand-off over its nuclear program. Tehran insists its program is aimed at developing nuclear power and the United States and other international powers charge it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Asked if he thought the IAEA will refer Iran to the Security Council, Bush said: "The IAEA must take a look at the facts, and listen carefully to the arguments, and there's a very good chance it will."
The council's five permanent members, including a reluctant Russia and China, this week agreed to ask the U.N. nuclear watchdog to report Iran to New York immediately.
Bush also said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about Iran and would not say how Putin feels about a Security Council referral. "He understands the threat, and we share the same goal," he said.
The IAEA's governing board will decide at an emergency meeting in Vienna on Thursday whether to report Iran to the Security Council.
Hellbent? Dude, you are way off.... Tell me how Bush is over there creating a terrorist state? Hamas did it well enough alone and Sharon allowed it!
Better start thinking about the law of preeminent domain here in the US, and other similar circumstances before judging what happened in Israel and blaming Condoleeza Rice for what the Israeli government makes rulings on.
Now you sound just like many of our Dem politicians, who claim President Bush is second only to GOD himself in power and omniscience.
I suppose President Bush wrote the Christian and Islamic Bibles just to cause these events?
LOL!
And SlickMeister will fight and die for Israel. They can rest easy.
And Jesus Himself declared that Satan was the Prince and the Power of this world.
Of course most people and Christians as well don't believe there is a Satan. Strangely they believe Jesus was real, just that some of the things he said seems to give them a little trouble. You know like the Old Testement being the literal word of God.
To bad he hasn't made the same announcement concerning Palastine?
We had assets, we didn't have the will, just like Clinton let the Blackhawk boys die for nothing. The Elder Bush could have done what was necesary, but he didn't, of course we must remember who his Joint Chief was, an undisputable arabist wonk.
Good job Mr.President. Israel is a very close ally and we will not let it fall into the hands of Islam.
The chances of Iranian people willingly go to war standing behind Ahmadinejad's nuclear ambitions are very unlikely. That is the bright side in this gloomy situation.
I don't consider it gloomy. I consider Hamas in the Palestinian territories and freakboy in Iran as a good thing. Its better to have your enemies be clear. And they have made it abundantly clear that they want confrontation.
Israel will only be able to supress what they need to (the Nuclear stuff). We will have to mop up and prevent any Iranian launches against Israel and our forces, so clearly, it is a good idea.
>> Here's where we really need that NEUTRON bomb...
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens...
The left will consider any attack on Iran by Israel to be an attack of Iran by the US.
If that happens, the entire Middle East will become target practice for our guys.
Correct.
The old Soviet Union was a case of rational, intelligent evil....deterred by strength but quick to advance vs. weakness.
The Islamics, ala Iran at this time, are a case of irrational evil, normal rationality suppressed by (religious) fanatism.
The diff between a sane but evil man as your neighbor and an insane and evil man. The former is a bad dog but the latter is a mad dog.
One key difference between Israel and Taiwan. Israel spends their own money, and lots of it, on their own defense. Sure, we give them aid, but they spend mostly their own funds. We have had a package of modern weapons (anti-sub planes, destroyers, Patriot missiles, etc.) on the table to sell to Taiwan since right after Bush took office, several years ago, and they still claim it is too expensive for them. If they refuse to spend their own money to defend themselves, why should we spend our blood and our money?
Bush is a man of God, doing the very best he can amidst the most vitriolic media and congress ever assembled against a sitting president.
This media (and again our "own" congress) will stop at literally nothing to bring him down, regardless of the harm to our beloved country. And on the left, they don't need facts to attack him. Just conjecture and retreaded DU horseshit...like your post.
So when I hear someone on this forum attack him with no real facts, sounding like it came direct from DU or their Gods John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, or Ted Kennedy, then you may earn a response.
But you aren't worthy of further discussion, so don't bother.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.