McCain constantly accuses Democrats of naivete when suggesting engagement in direct diplomacy with Iran, but, once again, John McCain proves that his rhetoric applies only to his political opponents.
In this interview from 2006, George Stephanopoulos asked McCain if in regards to Iraq, he would support, "the possibility of engaging Syria and Iran in this diplomatic process." McCain answered: "I don't mind engaging them at all. I think - we have to understand that we not only have the Iranian nuclear problem but the Iranians are on the ascendancy if we fail. So it's going to be very difficult to find common interests. Now maybe long term it's in Iran's interest not to see chaos in the region, I don't know. But in the short term both Iran and Syria do not share the same goals that the United States of America does. And we have to take that in consideration when we have discussions with them."
In two previous interviews, McCain had similar sentiments.
McCain said in 2005 that the U.S. should join with Europeans and engage directly with Iranians on their nuclear ambitions. On a 2005 appearance on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked McCain if, rather than "taking the back-seat approach," the U.S. "should enter into the negotiations, join with the Europeans and engage directly with the Iranians," to counter Tehran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. McCain replied: "I do. But the Europeans, on the other hand, have to agree that if the carrots don't work -- which, by the way, I would imagine, given past Iranian behavior, it's going to be difficult for them to work -- that their commitment to us is that they go to the United Nations, we seek economic and other sanctions against Iran, because that's a logical next step. So far, our European friends have not agreed to do that."
McCain said in 2006 that "there's a glimmer of hope...that maybe the Iranians would like to talk about" their nuclear pursuits." After describing Iran's potential acquisition of nuclear weapons as "the single greatest challenge" the U.S. faces "outside...of the war on terror," McCain was asked if he'd "start a preemptive war" to avert that. While McCain said the military option shouldn't be taken off the table, he cited the "broad number of options" before military action including sanctions and action by the UN Security Council. He continued, addressing the possibility of negotiations: "I noticed today, maybe there's a glimmer of hope that there is some indication that maybe the Iranians would like to talk about this. I hope it's true. I'm very skeptical because of their past behavior. But I hope that it's true."
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
