Posted on 06/02/2007 6:03:42 PM PDT by familyop
A diplomatic solution is the best way to deal with Irans nuclear program, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said.
"Having to take care of this problem militarily is in no-ones interest, he said.
Speaking Saturday at the sixth annual International Institute of Strategic Studies Asia Security Summit in Singapore, Gates expressed optimism about progress in curbing North Koreas nuclear ambitions through the Six-Party Talks. He said hes hopeful the diplomatic approach will prove successful in addressing Irans efforts, too.
Iran poses a threat to Southwest Asia and potentially Europe, particularly as it builds missiles of increasing range, Gates told defense and military leaders from 25 Asian nations during his keynote address.
During a question-and-answer session that followed the speech, Gates said the U.S. intelligence community generally agrees that Iran will be able to develop a nuclear weapon sometime between 2010 and 2015, and possibly even earlier. There are those who believe that that could happen much sooner, in late 2008 or 2009, he said.
Efforts to get Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities arent aimed at legitimate energy-production programs, he stressed. I dont think anyone begrudges Iran the capacity to have peaceful nuclear power under proper safeguards and supervision, he said. They key is whether they will have nuclear weapons.
Thats a distinction Gates said is impossible to make due to the way Iran conducts its affairs. The reality is we really dont know, he said.
As a result, Gates called on the United Nations Security Council to ratchet up pressure on Iran, not next year or the year after, but right now.
In addition, he called for the international community to come together to strengthen sanctions against Iran so it has to make some hard decisions.
These sanctions would force the Tehran government to begin to face some serious tradeoffs in terms of their economic well-being and their economic future for having nuclear weapons, Gates said.
No-one’s interest huh? I guess Israel doesn’t count?
>> “Having to take care of this problem militarily is in no-ones interest, [Gates] said.
... as opposed to doing nothing and watching our troops and innocent civilians killed by Iranian weapons? And Iran get nukes?
... as opposed to watching our naive and incompetent state department being led around by the nose by these vermin... for no good purpose?
Sorry, Mr. Gates. It’s not in IRAN’s best interest, but it might just be in ours!
Him and his associates created DOS.
An awesome legacy.
Dear Bill Gates, please debug DOS (now commonly known as Windows) and prove that you are perfect before you get back on your high horse and continue to torture us with your opinions.
It ain’t as if we have not given you enough money already.
(psst! wrong Gates!) :P
BOB Gates. SecDef
Well, that makes me feel much better. Some of us do not want to wait until we are 100% sure!
Something makes me think the Iranians aren't listening to your advice Monsieur Gates!
Wrong Gates?
I don’t care.
I am an idiot with a keyboard.....
Let the chips fall.....
haha Having a good Saturday night?
.
IRAN publically stated recently that:
“It’s now time for the world to start imagining a world without an America in it”
.
Former President CLINTON publically stated after the 9/11 Attacks that:
“There may not even be an America around in 300 years”
.
And thus THE Battle of the 21st Century has been defined and enjoined by our Enemies...
...within & without.
.
A diplomatic solution...Yes, because those have been SO successful in the past.
The same could be said of open ended police actions. Especially wandering around the Middle East ought to just bring us loads of success....
Let's see Rice has said it, Gates has said it, may just be the new 'conservatives' are finally falling out of favor.
I was just thinking that too. Did they just throw Israel overboard? Of course doing something about Iran is in someone’s interest. It is in my interest. And Israel might be coaxed to say they would be interested in smashing Iran’s nuclear dreams, but Gates is SecDef and he knows lots more than me. He probably thinks we are going to shut our borders too. It takes a guy with lots of degrees to make statements that make no sense.
There’s one similarity between B. Gates and R. Gates.
MS said, “Where Do you Want to Go Today?” Import moguls and others exclusively consider, “How much money do I want to make today?” If we take down Iran’s nuclear facilities and military forces, oil will go up sooner and freight fuel with it. But it won’t go up as much as it will after Iran has more built-up military forces with nukes mounted.
It’s all about today. And in the minds of our Party fellows with “class,” tomorrow doesn’t matter. Anyone who’s watched a spoiled kid grow up (or refuse to grow up) knows what’s going on.
Face it, history is iron-clad. Sanctions don’t work. Embargoes don’t work. You aren’t going to get anywhere with diplomacy in Iran.
Why steam around the middle east with a boatload of fire power and then tell Iran it is not in our interest to put them back in the 7th century? I thought that is where they wanted to be and needed our help to get there. But, as you say it was a very expensive non-starter. We are so smart at diplomacy it makes you think our pubbies will bail on our freedom loving friends too. I think they are hoping to get an agreement to have our friends shot rather than skinned. I guess that is what the negotiations are about. Can we have Reid and Pelosi shoot our friends just to be on the humanitarian side of the loss in Iraq?
Actually, I have been posting on another thread, and I got really sloppy on this one.
Nothing new there.
Dear Donald Rumsfeld -
We’re really sorry. Please come back. We need you.
Sincerely,
USA
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