J Street: Obama has right strategy on Iran
J Street liked what it heard Thursday from President Obama on Iran.
"Serious, meaningful diplomatic engagement - by a united international community - is a critical first step in preventing the development of Iranian nuclear weapons," said J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami in a statement. "However, talks alone are not enough. Iran must match deeds to words by taking concrete steps immediately to demonstrate its commitment to nonproliferation, including action to open all of its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection and fulfill its responsibilities under various international agreements. Should Iran not fulfill its obligations, the international community must be prepared to move forward with increased economic and diplomatic pressure, including further sanctions."
The full release is after the jump:
J Street supports President Obama in his remarks today, and his strategy generally, for addressing the serious challenges and threats posed by Iran.
Serious, meaningful diplomatic engagement - by a united international community - is a critical first step in preventing the development of Iranian nuclear weapons. However, talks alone are not enough. Iran must match deeds to words by taking concrete steps immediately to demonstrate its commitment to nonproliferation, including action to open all of its nuclear facilities to IAEA inspection and fulfill its responsibilities under various international agreements. Should Iran not fulfill its obligations, the international community must be prepared to move forward with increased economic and diplomatic pressure, including further sanctions.
Preventing an Iranian nuclear weapon is a critical strategic interest of the United States, Israel, and the entire Middle East, and is essential to achieving true peace and stability in the region.
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Correction: Demona, not Desdemona. Among other things, Desdemona is a moon of Uranus, which is where Demona might well fetch up if Israel succeeds in blowing up the world.
Bill Edwards, you said it better than I ever could have. Nuclear proliferation is the problem and the country that said that it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East in fact, of course, did so long ago and the whole world knows it. Israel should take note that not every country and it’s citizens tremble with fear at the very mention of it’s name, it’s nuclear fangs notwithstanding.
Where Obama sees tentative success, reality suggests failure. Faced with irrefutable evidence, Tehran acknowledged that it had built a second, covert nuclear-enrichment plant, squirreled away in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base near Qom. Neither Obama nor the director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, acknowledged that Iranian confirmation of its second enrichment plant belied the veracity of the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate. Regardless, Tehran’s decision to confess when confronted with proof of cheating should not be considered the same as Iranian transparency and goodwill.
http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com/2009/10/bad-options-on-iran.html#links
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Bill Edwards
10/02/09 01:10 AM
And just when will Israel take “concrete steps immediately to demonstrate its commitment to nonproliferation?” When will it open Desdemona to IAEA inspectors? When will it stop its violations of the United Nations Charter, specifically, its brutality of a conquered people and the seizure of their lands?
Never. That’s when. You phonies are a stench in the nostrils of decent human beings.