Tuesday, April 30, 2013 7:56:37 PM
National Security Brief: Bipartisan Expert Group Urges U.S. To Boost Diplomacy With Iran
By ThinkProgress on Apr 18, 2013 at 9:15 am
A new report from a bipartisan group of former U.S. officials urges the Obama administration to strengthen and expand diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear program instead of relying solely on sanctions to convince the regime in Tehran to change course .. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jIpaWA5njlPfJePlNVw9phvB_0dQ?docId=CNG.fd26a8d1589ebbf1f8ea05785da7ab0d.5f1 .
[ Those who signed the report included former Republican senator Richard Lugar; Michael Hayden, ex-CIA director under president George W. Bush; Ryan Crocker, the former US ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. ]
The Iran Project’s report says that the U.S. sanctions policy may be backfiring .. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/world/middleeast/report-on-iran-urges-obama-to-rethink-sanctions.html .. and has “contributed to an increase in repression and corruption within Iran” and “may be sowing the seeds of long-term alienation between the Iranian people and the United States.”
“The United States should now dedicate as much energy and creativity to negotiating directly with Iran as it has to assembling a broad international coalition to pressure and isolate Iran,” the report says, adding, “Only by taking such a rebalanced approach might the United States achieve its objectives with respect to Iran’s nuclear program.”
Signatories to the report include former Republican senator Dick Lugar, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan Ryan Crocker, former Bush administration NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden, President Carter’s National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and 9/11 Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton.
“It is time for the administration to make the sweat equity investment in negotiations equal to” efforts put into sanctions and the military option, said former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, another signatory to the report, according to Al-Monitor .. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/obama-iran-project-report-negotiations.html . “The president has to make the decision he wants a deal and instruct his people that he wants a deal.”
[ The Iran Project proposes other steps, such as stopping some unspecified covert activities against Iran in a way that would be evident to Iranian leaders, establishing a hot line for clarification of unclear or antagonistic events and statements, and public acknowledgement by Obama of Khamenei’s fatwa against nuclear weapons.
Among the group’s more controversial suggestions is engaging Iran on Syria. The report says that this may be difficult now but could provide considerable benefits after the fall of Bashar al-Assad especially if virulently anti-Western Sunni fundamentalist groups become dominant in Syria. ]
In other news:
The Washington Post reports .. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kerry-lawmakers-have-testy-exchanges-on-benghazi/2013/04/17/3987569a-a7b3-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_story.html : Secretary of State John F. Kerry showed little patience Wednesday with lawmakers who continue to demand a better accounting from the Obama administration for its statements and actions surrounding last September’s terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya.
Foreign Policy reports .. http://e-ring.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/17/un_secretary_general_to_discuss_north_korea_peacekeeping_in_historic_pentagon_visit#.UW_p3Jm0bFZ.twitter : Ban Ki-moon will become the first sitting United Nations secretary general to visit the Pentagon when he meets with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey on Thursday to discuss the North Korean crisis.
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/04/18/1886971/national-security-brief-iran-project-diplomacy/
.. somewhere in one of the links, the obvious question .. 'Do you want another war?'
By ThinkProgress on Apr 18, 2013 at 9:15 am
A new report from a bipartisan group of former U.S. officials urges the Obama administration to strengthen and expand diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear program instead of relying solely on sanctions to convince the regime in Tehran to change course .. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jIpaWA5njlPfJePlNVw9phvB_0dQ?docId=CNG.fd26a8d1589ebbf1f8ea05785da7ab0d.5f1 .
[ Those who signed the report included former Republican senator Richard Lugar; Michael Hayden, ex-CIA director under president George W. Bush; Ryan Crocker, the former US ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. ]
The Iran Project’s report says that the U.S. sanctions policy may be backfiring .. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/world/middleeast/report-on-iran-urges-obama-to-rethink-sanctions.html .. and has “contributed to an increase in repression and corruption within Iran” and “may be sowing the seeds of long-term alienation between the Iranian people and the United States.”
“The United States should now dedicate as much energy and creativity to negotiating directly with Iran as it has to assembling a broad international coalition to pressure and isolate Iran,” the report says, adding, “Only by taking such a rebalanced approach might the United States achieve its objectives with respect to Iran’s nuclear program.”
Signatories to the report include former Republican senator Dick Lugar, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan Ryan Crocker, former Bush administration NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden, President Carter’s National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and 9/11 Commission co-chair Lee Hamilton.
“It is time for the administration to make the sweat equity investment in negotiations equal to” efforts put into sanctions and the military option, said former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, another signatory to the report, according to Al-Monitor .. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/obama-iran-project-report-negotiations.html . “The president has to make the decision he wants a deal and instruct his people that he wants a deal.”
[ The Iran Project proposes other steps, such as stopping some unspecified covert activities against Iran in a way that would be evident to Iranian leaders, establishing a hot line for clarification of unclear or antagonistic events and statements, and public acknowledgement by Obama of Khamenei’s fatwa against nuclear weapons.
Among the group’s more controversial suggestions is engaging Iran on Syria. The report says that this may be difficult now but could provide considerable benefits after the fall of Bashar al-Assad especially if virulently anti-Western Sunni fundamentalist groups become dominant in Syria. ]
In other news:
The Washington Post reports .. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kerry-lawmakers-have-testy-exchanges-on-benghazi/2013/04/17/3987569a-a7b3-11e2-b029-8fb7e977ef71_story.html : Secretary of State John F. Kerry showed little patience Wednesday with lawmakers who continue to demand a better accounting from the Obama administration for its statements and actions surrounding last September’s terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya.
Foreign Policy reports .. http://e-ring.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/04/17/un_secretary_general_to_discuss_north_korea_peacekeeping_in_historic_pentagon_visit#.UW_p3Jm0bFZ.twitter : Ban Ki-moon will become the first sitting United Nations secretary general to visit the Pentagon when he meets with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey on Thursday to discuss the North Korean crisis.
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/04/18/1886971/national-security-brief-iran-project-diplomacy/
.. somewhere in one of the links, the obvious question .. 'Do you want another war?'
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
