Pentagon: US Seeks To Pressure Iran, Not Give It Incentives

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP)--The U.S. isn't trying to create incentives to bring Iran to the negotiating table but rather is seeking ways to intensify pressure to force it to change its ways, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell indicated, however, that the Pentagon doesn't currently plan an increase in U.S. military presence in the Gulf as a form of pressure on Iran.

Morrell sought to clarify remarks Wednesday by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that were interpreted here as a call for a combination of incentives and pressures to induce Iran to negotiate.

Morrell said there was "absolutely no gap" on the issue between Gates and President George W. Bush, who said in Jerusalem Wednesday that negotiating with "radicals and terrorists" was "a foolish delusion."

What Gates and the rest of the administration were focused on, the spokesman said, "is continuing to find ways to increase the pressure on the Iranian government to change their behavior."



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wonder if he read my post :)

US Defence Secretary Gates urges more private US contacts with Iran(appeasement?)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3310617&mesg_id=3310617

[Betsy Ross]

1. Yeah, we know how well that works.

Shouldn't it be the State Department that defines our path? Of course the Pentagon is for pressure. That's what militaries are for, extreme pressure.

[ShockediSay]

2. Sadly, this administration has left nothing in our military to pressure

anything, unless they bring back the draft,

very popular in Sen McCain's day.

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."