Posted on 01/24/2007 6:26:24 AM PST by pissant
Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns clearly knew his audience in Dubai and the reception he'd get if he'd talk tough against Iran. While Burns was busy today in Dubai warning Iran to back down, the think tank Mr. Burns was speaking to, the Gulf Research Center (described by the AP as "an influential think-tank"), had just put out a paper on Sunday, warning that "Tehran has to finally realize that if push comes to shove, if the choice is between an Iranian nuclear bomb and a US military strike, then the Arab Gulf states have no choice but to quietly support the US. Living under the shadow of Iranian nuclear bomb is unacceptable."
The paper, written by GRC program director, Dr. Christian Koch, makes it clear that the Gulf States view Iran as an existential threat and the paper warns that:
Instead of trying to position itself as the main power in the Middle East that is set on challenging and bringing down US dominance, Iran should truly begin to engage the region and seek broad-based solutions to the region’s urgent problems. Unfortunately, Iran refuses to provide its neighbors with any sort of confidence concerning its ultimate ambitions. From the Arab Gulf perspective, Iranian actions simply look as replacing one bully with another. At a time when the Arab Gulf states are looking for reassurances, Iranian pronouncements of its military capabilities and ability to send thousands of suicide bombers to the other side of the Gulf in response to any US military campaign represents an attempt at intimidation in the least. It is little wonder then that the Arab Gulf states continue to request and depend on US protection given that “export of the revolution†represents a real threat to their existence.
The paper does tell America that:
If the United States is serious about bringing a change in Iranian policies, it needs to realize that the impetus for change has to come from within. A better strategy, therefore, would be to formulate and issue messages of positive intent and content directly to the Iranian population, who will ultimately be the ones exerting the required pressure on the power holders above. About 60 percent of Iran’s population is under the age of 24, with one in five between 15 and 24 years of age unemployed. If there is one thing that the current clerical regime is afraid of, it is its own population. To mobilize this population what is required is a message to rally around, i.e. a vision worth standing up for. This is what the US should provide.
When some Arab states joined in the American military exercises that "provoked" the mullahs in November, we noted that:
That some Arab states see Iran as enough of a threat as to join American military exercises -- knowing full well it will anger Iran and split "Arab solidarity" -- is a sign of just how concerned they are. A reminder that while Russia and China may oppose action against Tehran, Washington can expect support -- whether vocal or silent -- from places where it counts much more. This case is only stronger now that the GRC has put out a paper explicitly saying that the Gulf States would support an American military strike against Iran if the alternative was a nuclear Iran. It seems those opposed to stopping Iran acquire nukes are either found in the halls of Congress or among our European "allies" -- who prefer talking all the way to an Iranian nuclear bomb.
Somehow I think that Iran was less than impressed with these latest utterances from JOHN F'IN KERRY's FORMER FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR!
John Kerry had a foreign policy?
Yes, surrender.
With the Saudis, Kuwaitis and others all looking at war with Iran, of course they would back a military strike on Iran.
These are the very same people who coined he expression "The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend".
This would be a friendship of convenience. The instant after the bombing they would be condemning us again.
It is permissible to lie to the infidel during jihad. Especially when they will kill the Shia.
"Without question, we need to disarm Ahmadinejad. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction... So the threat of Ahmadinejad with weapons of mass
destruction is real..."
- Sen. John F. Kerry
Iranian Shia are a threat to all neighboring Sunni countries, not just little and large Satan.
Time for some serious target practice in Iran.
ROFL!
I like one word summaries!!
How does the issuance of a paper by a guy name CHRISTIAN Koch become the voice of the Gulf States all of whom are Moslem?
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Related thread:
Senators to Bush: Stay out of Iran
*********************************EXCERPT ******************************8
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's warnings to Iran and Syria to not interfere in Iraq and the arrest of six Iranians in Iraq by U.S. troops raised eyebrows Thursday on Capitol Hill, where senators warned Bush against widening the nearly four-year-old war.
Sen. Joseph Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Bush did not have the authority to send U.S. troops on cross-border raids.
"This would be a friendship of convenience. The instant after the bombing they would be condemning us again."
nothing wrong with that, it is realpolitik, and the way countries behave (the only way they can if they want to survive.) Countries don't have friends, period.
wow this is great!
THEY might be ready but no way will the dimwitts go along with this in Washington.
From Google search...good get on this guy: "Mr. (Nicholas) Burn's....influence is also seen in the Bush administration's close relationship with Saudi Arabia and the deference with which it treats Yasser Arafat's longtime sidekick, Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Burns has impeccable credentials for a Kerry administration official. He studied in France, earning the Certificat Pratique de Langue Francaise from the Sorbonne, and speaks French, Arabic, and Greek. He did a stint as spokesman for President Clinton's first-term secretary of state, Warren Christopher, where his service included criticizing Mayor Giuliani for kicking Yasser Arafat out of a concert at Lincoln Center, saying that Mr. Arafat deserved to be treated with "respect, dignity, and hospitality." Mr. Holbrooke's praises of Mr. Burns as being among a group of diplomats who are "centrists" and "non-ideological" are no doubt spot on. He's just not what the American people voted for, and when Mr. Bush returns from his gallivanting overseas the best thing he can do to redeem his commitment to voters is to do something about it.
ARE you sh*tin' me with that quote? Tell me that John F'in Kerry was holding court after a Terrrazah festival of gin-soaked raisins when he spewed that jewel?
He made that statement last April Fools' Day didn't he?
(shaking head, I don't believe it...lol)
It appears that the Arab Gulf States have more sense then the Dems when it comes to stopping Iran.
Wouldn't take much sense to out-sense the Democrat party.
A broken clock is still right twice a day... or I guess the proper way to say it is the sun strikes a donkeys ass once a day..
The events in Iraq are being upstaged. The gang war in Baghdad is about to be replaced by a real war.
We will take on Syria, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
Israel will get a free Lebanon and crippled Syria. The Gulf States will get a free Iraq member and a crippled Iran.
Venezuela will get a new leader and Miami will get Cuba.
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