Gates rebuffs calls for diplomacy with Iran

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates rebuffed calls for diplomatic engagement with Iran Tuesday, saying it was an open question whether talks would be productive while President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is in power.

Gates said the United States may have missed an opportunity to engage Iran in 2003 to 2004, but Iran under Ahmedinejad has experienced "a resurgence of the original hardline views of the Islamic revolutionaries."

"So the question is do you have the kind of government in Iran now with whom there can be productive discussions on substantive issues, and I think that's an open question," he told the defense subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Gates came under sharp questioning from Republican Senator Arlen Specter about the administration's refusal to reach out diplomatically to Iran and its insistence that Tehran must first halt its uranium enrichment program.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080520/pl_afp/usirandiplomacygates_080520193728;_ylt=Alw5qHkW6cDmUPdK15p2SxCsOrgF

[unhappycamper]

1. I doubt diplomatic talks would be productive while pResident George W. Bush is in power. n/t

[ohio2007]

10. regime change is required if both sides are serious about dialogue

They also have an election that could offer results that indicate "a time for change"


Iranian Clerics Tell the President to Leave the Theology to Them

TEHRAN — In his almost three years as president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been harshly criticized in the West. But he is increasingly drawing fire from Shiite clerics here, who accuse him of using religion to distract attention from his government’s failure to deliver on promises of prosperity and political freedoms.

snip

The tensions surround Imam Mahdi, the 12th imam in a direct bloodline from the Prophet Muhammad, who the Shiite faithful believe will one day emerge from 1,000 years in hiding to save mankind and bring justice to the world



President Ahmadinejad, who came to office in 2005 declaring his intention to “hasten the emergence” of Imam Mahdi, said in a speech broadcast nationally this month that Imam Mahdi supported the day-to-day workings of his government and was helping him in the face of international pressure.

In his speech, which was made last month but not broadcast immediately, Mr. Ahmadinejad said Imam Mahdi was directing his government’s policies. He said he had the imam’s hidden support when he gave a speech at Columbia University in New York last September and was insulted by the president of the university.

With Imam Mahdi’s support, he said, 500 million people watched him on television. Mr. Ahmadinejad also said the United States had attacked Iraq because it had found out that “the divine hand” — apparently a reference to Imam Mahdi — was going to emerge there.

The escalation of the dispute in recent days seemed to suggest that Mr. Ahmadinejad was challenging Shiite clerics assumed to be the sole interpreters of the faith. Several of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s critics said that by linking his government to Imam Mahdi, he was trying to deflect criticism of his economic policies, which have led to double-digit inflation.A senior conservative cleric, Ayatollah Muhammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, warned him weeks ago not to talk about Imam Mahdi and said that even the founder of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, did not claim any links with the imam


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“We need to talk about realities,” said Mr. Karroubi, who is a former speaker of Parliament. “We should not link everything to religious and hidden issues.”




http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/world/middleeast/20mahdi.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[panader0]

2. It made me furious to hear mccain call Obama inexperienced

because he wants to meet with foriegn leaders, friendly or not. Of course you talk to everyone. It's not appeasement, it's called diplomacy. It's how you avoid war and make peace.

[Amonester]

11. Yeah, but if chainy avoids war, he won't get his pals the billions of

barrels of oil he promised them.

[Webster Green]

3. Of course its an open question, fucking dumb-ass!

You'll never learn the answer if you don't talk.

Idiots! :crazy:

[Tempest]

4. Yet Bush opened dialog with North Korea and Syria

And their leadership didn't change.

The Bushies have a hard-on to start a war with Iran.

[fascisthunter]

5. Now That the Cat is Out of The Bag

must put up the perception that they do not speak to said enemies... how fucking juvenile and stupid. These are supposed to be adults running this country, not idiot punks trying to out-piss each other. Fucking deranged asshole.

[YDogg]

6. Flip. Flop. Repeat.

[Shipwack]

7. Let me be the first to point out...

Mr. Gates, it's not your effin' decision to make!

You are the Secretary of DEFENSE! Decisions on who we do or do not talk to come from the State Department, via the Oval Office. Go back to making up plans to bomb the crap out of brown people, and when we need your input, we'll let you know.

::mutters:: dumb-ass

[and-justice-for-all]

8. Bwaaaaaahhhh!!! McSame just tried to slap Obama...

with for wanting to have talks with Iran!! McGramps his going fill his diaper!!1

[Pastiche423]

9. Idiot

[buckrogers1965]

12. If only there were some way of answering that open question.

"saying it was an open question whether talks would be productive while President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is in power."

If you refuse to talk then you will never answer the question.

Iran has attempted to open a dialog with us numerous times and has been rudely and provocatively rebuked by this administration every time.

We are the country that needs a regime change in order for there to be successful talks.

[Supersedeas]

13. calling it an open question is equivalent to a rebuff??