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Home Front: Politix
Lugar: US should talk to Iran
2009-06-22
[Iran Press TV Latest] Senior US Republican Senator Richard Lugar maintains that the post-election mayhem in Iran should not stop Washington from sitting at the negotiation table with Tehran.

The Indiana Senator, appearing on the CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday said that the US should enter talks with Iran to persuade the country to abandon its nuclear program.

"We would sit down because our objective is to eliminate the nuclear program that is in Iran," Sen. Lugar said.

Lugar said that President Barack Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton should brace themselves for a possible meeting with their Iranian counterparts.
And what exactly are we supposed to 'offer'? Because you know the Iranians won't offer a thing. After they put down the June 12 revolution (assuming they do) the Iranians aren't going to be in a mood to offer America anything except the back of their hand. Khamenei in particular will be looking to show his supporters that he has Iran's foreign policy firmly under control, and that means giving us exactly nothing.
The Republican, who is a member of the foreign relations committee, reiterated that the present unrest in Iran should open a new window of opportunity for the United States.

"We really have to get into the nuclear weapons. We have to get into terrorism of Iran in other areas of the Middle East. Now we have new opportunity in which we might very well say, 'We want communication with Iran. We want openness of the press. We don't want to have to use Twitter. We want the press on the ground.'"

"In order to have any kind of a relationship, we need to be able to talk to people, hear from people, argue with people," Lugar added.
Again, a 'relationship' pre-supposes that we, the West, are going to offer Iran something to turn them away from nuclear weapons and terrorism. What exactly do you propose, Senator? Let's hear it.
Iran has lashed out at Western countries, including the US and some European states, for their efforts to dramatize the post-election unrest in the country and capitalize on the Issue.
Posted by:Fred

#6  Hitchens? Right for all the wrong reasons.
Posted by: OldSpook   2009-06-22 21:58  

#5  "Coexistence with a nuclearized, fascistic theocracy in Iran is impossible even in the short run. The mullahs understand this with perfect clarity. Why can't we?"
Christopher Hitchens
Posted by: Black Bart Ebberens7700   2009-06-22 17:30  

#4  If we sit down and talk with the current regime, it may not be there much longer. Besides, why legitimize this corrupt regime by talking with them. The Iranian people who are out in the streets protesting and dying don't think the regime is legitimate. Talking with the current regime has been pointless to date and has yielded zero. They are going to do what they want to do regardless.
Posted by: JohnQC   2009-06-22 10:35  

#3  'We want communication with Iran. We want openness of the press. We don't want to have to use Twitter. We want the press on the ground.'"

Translation:

We want uninterupted Obama Administration coms and spin with Iran. We want openness of the State Run Media, both theirs and ours. Like Fox, Twitter cannot be controlled easily by the government. Therefore it is useless. We want 'selected' media and press outlets on the ground.
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-06-22 07:52  

#2  Did Lugar notice the 3.5 years of EU talks and results? Perhaps Richard Rino should move in with Arlen S. and sit down there to collect his unearned paycheck.
Posted by: Muggsy Glink   2009-06-22 01:06  

#1  Why bother. Give the iranian gov't a blanket statement - "seeking nuclear arms would be a bad idea for you." case closed. I'd then tell the israelis through back channels to make the strikes count, since we're going to get blamed in any case.
Posted by: Broadhead6   2009-06-22 00:19  

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