Posted on 09/06/2006 12:51:47 PM PDT by nickcarraway
On the eve of his first trip to the US capital, the former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami warned that US military action in the Middle East had backfired, producing greater terrorism and damaging America's long-term interests.
But the danger of even greater instability in the region would ultimately prevent the US from staging military strikes against Iran over disputes about its nuclear intentions, he predicted during an interview in New York, where he was attending a United Nations conference.
Although an attack on Iran would create "great damage", Hojatoleslam Khatami said, "prudence and wisdom" were likely to prevail because of the incalculable "detriment and damage" to both the region and the US.
Hojatoleslam Khatami said Iran was not intent on eliminating Israel and accepted a two-state solution that included Israel and a new Palestine - on terms acceptable to the Palestinians.
He contradicted the recent angry rhetoric of his hardline successor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
"The practical policy of the Islamic republic has never been to eliminate or wipe Israel off the map. And I don't believe that this policy has changed with the change of president," he said.
Hojatoleslam Khatami, president between 1997 and 2005, is due to speak at the University of Virginia and the Washington National Cathedral today.
Concern about nuclear proliferation was generally "very justified", he said, insisting Tehran had not rejected US-backed incentives to end uranium enrichment for its peaceful nuclear energy program. But Iran did not trust promises from other countries that it would have long-term access to fuel for energy, he said.
Funny that what Mullah Omar and Saddam said. May Kami should go check with them how that all worked out for them
You can either lance the boil, or die of gangrene. Let's keep the lances sharp.
Yea, ignore that man behind the curtain...sure.
Better get a new crystal ball, dude. The one you're using is cracked and defective, just like your head.
Sure they didn't mix up the quotes? These statements exactly track Biden's dem response.
Israel won't.
He should be reminded that there is only one nation on earth that used nuclear weapons on cities and that's the US. If Iran tries anything, Mecca, Tehran and Damascus should be no more.
What do you think we've gained by our support of Israel and our war in Iraq? What would the current situation be if we hadn't invaded Iraq?
Serious replies only please.
I predict that Khatami will die in a large explosion that will level his office or home. It will be one of thousands of similar explosions that destroy the Iranian nuclear program and decapitate their dictatorship. But what do I know?
IF I didn't see who said this, I would've guessed that it was Reid, Pelosi, Duban, et al...
Funny and sad, he speaks from the same talking points as our own Demagogues, some of whom are sponsoring his current propaganda tour of the USA. It truly is the "unholy alliance" of the western radical left with Islamo-fascists of both Shia and Sunni varieties. This guy has far more in common with Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, Noam Chomsky, et al than with real Americans.
The man is a racist, a religious bigot, and a pathological liar. He'll probably get a standing ovation at Harvard too.
The entire middle east mentality is similar to a school bully. If you allow his abuse to continue, it gets consistently worse over time. Stand up to him, and he learns his tactics are not without consequences.
If we had not challenged Saddam, we would have experienced other terrorist attacks within the United States. Once we removed him, we simply could not allow radical influences to run rampant within the country.
"Khatami predicts US will back down"
Katami predicts Democrats will back down.
There, that looks more like it.
"But the danger of even greater instability in the region would ultimately prevent the US from staging military strikes against Iran over disputes about its nuclear intentions,....."
I wonder if he's willing to bet his life on that?
The liberals are the new America Firsters, though of course they don't even have the excuse of caring for America. They want to "be more fair" in terms of Israel and Palestine--to me that translates to a really childish concept that if you "side" with one you have to "side" with the other an equal number of times in the name of "fairness". (I guess we should have "sided" with the Nazis sometimes, out of fairness.)
Iran and Iraq are ACTIVELY evil. They're not just going to sit there because we sit back.
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