Sun editorial:
Stand tough against Iran
President should marshal support to oppose country’s rogue missile, nuclear programs
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 | 2:07 a.m.
Iran opens talks with the United States and several other world powers this week in what will be a test of international resolve to confront a very real and growing threat.
Last week the United States, France and Britain announced that Iran was operating a top-secret facility to produce enriched uranium that could be used in a nuclear weapon. Iran’s response? It thumbed its nose at the world. To cap it off, the country staged missile tests Sunday and Monday with weapons that reportedly are capable of reaching Israel and Europe.
This is disturbing. Led by an irrational and unstable regime, Iran threatens to undermine what little stability there is in the Middle East, particularly with its repeated vitriolic threats toward Israel.
There are signs that Iran may try to escalate the conflict. After the turmoil that the country faced over the fraud found in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent reelection, Ahmadinejad may believe that a crisis with world superpowers could help the regime regain legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens.
President Barack Obama’s administration is considering tougher sanctions against Iran, which would certainly be a good step. The New York Times reported Monday that Ahmadinejad privately said he would “warmly welcome” such action, claiming that such sanctions would help his country become more self-sufficient.
Iran, though, is far from self-sufficient. It has close economic ties with Russia and China, both parties to this week’s talks. Unfortunately, neither Russia nor China has shown any interest in imposing harsher sanctions.
That could create a serious problem. Without severe economic sanctions, the international community has little leverage to negotiate an end to Iran’s nuclear program.
Russia and China should come together with the United States and its allies on this issue. Iran poses a serious threat to the world’s security. Its nuclear program must be stopped.
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Is Obama going cowboy on us? Why is Obama throwing out diplomacy and issuing ultimatums.
Why did Obama publically shakedown Iran on something never discussed diplomatically.
Let's be clear we need to stop Iran which has previously disclosed their operating enrichment facility in Natanz.
But Obama is not concerned or addressing the operating Natanz nuclear enrichment facility used in making nuclear bombs.
Western officials discovered the Qom facility several years ago, when they tracked the digging of the underground site, near the holy city, supporting the long-held belief that Tehran may operate a second facility to produce the highly enriched uranium.
Obama has known about the under-construction facility since 2008, before he was elected. Obama has allowed a year of construction to pass because Obama refused to accept the intelligence reports of the CIA.
Obama only relented when both the British and French told Obama it was a real fact.Obama provided no basis to support believing the reports now.
Obama announced his "discovery" at the G-20 financial meeting -- not the day before at the United Nations and has given Iran an Oct 1st deadline to "Come Clean". Whatever that means.
The Iranians have said the incomplete facility is a semi-industrial plant for enriching nuclear fuel is estimated to be 18 months away from being operational. Iran has told the IAEA about the facility and will allow inspection in the future when there is something to inspect. Not very clandestine as claimed by an outraged Obama.
Not letting up on Iran, President Barack Obama said 9-26-2009, that the Islamic republic must take action to demonstrate its peaceful intentions after the discovery of a covert nuclear facility or it will be held accountable by the world's nations.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said that evidence showing Iran building an underground plant to enrich uranium that could be used for an atomic bomb "continues a disturbing pattern of Iranian evasion" that jeopardizes global nonproliferation.
Obama urged Tehran once again to open the site to international inspectors, or face consequences.
The chief option is tougher economic sanctions, but on 9-25-2009, Cowboy Obama and other administration officials did not rule out military action.
Why all this action on a new but empty facility when we have an operating plant now?
The effort to directly engage Iran was a hallmark of the early months of the administration, with President Obama offering a televised greeting in honor of the Persian New Year and sending private letters to the country's supreme leader. But the gestures went largely unreciprocated.
The Cowboy Obama administration is shifting the emphasis in its dealings with the Islamic republic -- away from engagement and toward sterner action against Tehran.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12538662...
The President that cannot figure out his strategy in Afghanistan or what to do with Gitmo must scare the heck out of the Iranian President that unleashed killers on the streets to enforce his own election.
When the President of France calls out Obama as living in a virtual world at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council you know the world has no respect for the man.
Look at what the Canadian press reports while our press pretends Obama made a good showing on the world stage.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/12066453/oba...
The time has come! Do it and accept what happens.
Iran can no longer be tolerated!
I remember the events before we invaided Iraq. Allies got together and agreed on intelligence that later turned out to be false.
I have read too many stories conflicting with what our government is putting out in the mainstream media. I'm trying to put pieces together and at this time it's hard to believe one story or another. I'll wait till the inspections are completed before I start pointing fingers.
I feel Iran is deathly afraid of the U.S.A. because of our aggression to countries in the mideast and now it looks as though we will be starting more aggression in Pakistan, a country that helped us in the invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. This fear that Iran is feeling is why they are launching their missles, to try and put any fear into Israeal, Even tho their missles don't have warheads and are inferior to the arsenal which Israeal has bought and paid for in the past years, they have no other way to try and bluff their powers.
The U.S.A. should pull out of the mid east and let these countries figure out their own problems. Oh yes, I almost forgot we can't. Those pipelines which are to go through Afghanistan carring oil and natural gas still have to be constructed.
Isn't this why the Shah of Iran and the U.S.A. oil companies were thrown out of Iran in the 70's?
Oil, Greed, is there any other reason?
There is no such thing.....oil pipelines or proposed oil pipelines through Afghanistan.
They were trying to build a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan but the war put an end to that which is a fact does not support your theory but works against their theory.
Also, all that natural gas would have been consumed by people in countries in the middle east and western Asia.
This is the baby brought to us by the the weak leadership of Jimmy Carter who tried to also destroy the CIA of which we never truly recovered from.
We have two choices because Russia and China and other entities will not support sanctions or secertly break sanctions.
Bomb and embargo Iran now.
It might trigger a middle-east wide war.
Also gas prices will jump to $5 a gallons which will push unemployment even higher.
or
Wait and cross our fingers and hope that the crazies in Iran do not use nuclear dirty bombs or nuclear warheads to destory a city in Israel or Eurpoe or USA.
If that happens then the whole world will change overnight.
What happened to Obama sitting down and working things out with everyone?
During his campaign, Obama announced that we would not have go it alone in Afghanistan. Obama told us that other countries would be willing to help carry the load in Afghanistan and other places.
He said that NATO would be sending more troops, but where are they?
What happened to Obama's magic? Or did he flat run out of "snake oil?"
Oh, so now what, the leftwingers at the LVSun want the president of the US to puff out his chest and go all medievel on Iran? Gee, why the change of heart?
Rock why was Condoleeza Rice in the Middle east as a board director representing Chevron oil for a 10 billion oil and gas deal in the mid 90's?
Weren't you aware of the riches in fossil fuels waiting to be tapped out of the ground around the Cspian Sea region? Last time we discussed this I told you to type in pipelines through Afghanistan in your address bar.Read:
http://centurean2.wordpress.com/2009/08/...
Obama and clan won't do anything; they've already screwed up everything else they've tried. Obama will talk to them, please stop, oh please stop. They'll lie to Obama and he'll go away.
The cure to Iran will be Israel. Israel will bomb the facility and remove the threat for a few years and they'll bomb it again and again. When the lunatics are voted out office and America put back into office a President who will use whatever force is necessary to protect us then Iran will be nuked.
Obama does need a War on Terror to keep his popularity hopping. He is losing us on Afganistn because he has no clue how to fight a war-especilly one that has no reason to be happening. A good scare will get Americans to put their heads in the sand like they did for the Bush lies and the Iraq War. The Obama lies are not very nice or believable either.
Wish we still had saddam around to deal with Iran. The region would be so much more stable.
ALL I HAVE TO SAY MR PRESIDENT IS THIS,IF OUR TROOPS NEED HELP,GIVE IT TO THEM!!! IF THEY NEED MORE FUNDING,GIVE IT TOO THEM!!! REMEMBER FOLKS,AS YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT,THEY ARE KEEPING YOU SAFE BY WALKING THE WALL!!! OUR TROOPS NEED US,MORE THAN WE NEED THEM!
Well, well...the Sun parroting the official "let's bomb Iran for no good reason" line. Pathetic, but not unexpected. Is there anyone in the extreme media that is not in the pocket of the war-lunatics?
Some questions for consideration, given this cartoonish editorial:
- a growing threat against whom?
- "top secret" facility that Iran itself disclosed to the IAEA? Funny.
- it's not disturbing- Iran has been threatened since the Bush years, yet another Cheney policy that Obama is happily adopting
- there's nothing irrational about the Iran government. What is irrational is to stage yet another fraudulent war against and country that has done nothing to us.
- sanctions are a "good step" toward what?
- why would the international community be interested in negotiating an end to Iran's nuclear energy program?
- how on earth does Iran pose a threat to the world's-THE WORLD's!- security?
WOW I though Art Bell retired. Iran should just buy a nuke from north Korea in kit form.
I don't see anything in the Constitution that says Iran can have a nuke. When nukes are outlawed only outlaws will have nukes.
(Nuclear Elephant in the room: What about Israel's nukes? Noble Peace prize winner Jimmy Carter says they have 167 nukes. Pu that in your missile silo and smoke it.)
our president is an arrogant, limp-wristed, jerk.
he won't do anything about iran.