Iraq And U.S. To Pressure Iran With Diplomacy And Force
Iraq’s Foreign Affairs minister Hoshiyar Zebari
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq is prepared to pressure Iran diplomatically to stop supporting violence, while the United States helps the military effort to halt aid to “surrogate” forces, the White House national security adviser said on Sunday.
White House adviser Stephen Hadley said Iran must choose between good relations with Iraq, or its “destabilizing” activities in the country.
“The Iraqi government now understands more clearly what they (the Iranians) are doing. They will put diplomatic pressure to bear on Iran. That’s a good thing,” Hadley said on the “Fox News Sunday” television show.
“In addition, we will continue to do with Iraqi security forces what we’ve been doing for some time. We will go after their surrogate operations in Iraq that are killing our forces, killing Iraqi forces.
“We will disrupt their networks by which they move fighters, weapons and funds in and around Iraq. And we will cut off as best we can the flow of fighters, weapons and arms into Iraq,” he said.
Washington accuses Iran of stoking violence in its neighbor. Iran denies this and blames the presence of U.S. troops for the bloodshed.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari described Iran as a neighbor that must be treated with respect.
“We are destined to live with them. Really, we need to assume some good faith in dealing with them, trying to … activate this tripartite dialogue between the United States, Iran and Iraq,” Zebari said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
Gates, speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said Iraqi forces were steadily assuming control of more areas in Iraq, and he cited reports of a backlash among some local Shi’ite leaders in Basra against violent Shi’ite factions.
“I think the chances of us stumbling into a confrontation with Iran are very low. We are concerned about their activities in the south,” he said. “But I think that the process that’s under way is … headed in the right direction.”
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, called the Iraqi government the main obstacle to ending factional and sectarian violence, and said on “Face the Nation” that an early withdrawal of U.S. troops would force the government to make political decisions needed for peace.
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Pelosi, Reid, Durbin, Obama and Clinton have to have failure to survive politically. Is it no wonder that Pelosi and Reid have lead Congress to all-time lows in approval ratings.
The Iraqi people have watched our soldiers and have chosen freedom. The Free Iraqi’s will be a great ally to the Republican party and will never trust a Democrat again.
April 13th, 2008 at 9:54 amIraqis have two choices: Freedom or the slavery that AQ and Sadr promise. Iraqis: Consider the views of Saudi cleric Muhammad Al-Munajid, which aired on Al-Majd TV on March 30, 2008. The last line is your future if you choose Sadr, Iran or AQI:
“The problem is that they [dissident Islamists and non-believers] want to open a debate on whether Islam is true or not, and on whether Judaism and Christianity are false or not. In other words, they want to open up everything for debate. Now they want to open up all issues for debate. That’s it. It begins with freedom of thought, it continues with freedom of speech, and it ends up with freedom of belief. So where’s the conspiracy? They say: Let’s have freedom of thought in Islam. Well, what do they want? They say: I think, therefore I want to express my thoughts. I want to express myself, I want to talk and say, for example, that there are loopholes in Islam, or that Christianity is the truth. Then they will talk about freedom of belief, and say that anyone is entitled to believe in whatever he wants… If you want to become an apostate – go ahead. Fancy Buddhism? Leave Islam, and join Buddhism. No problem. That’s what freedom of belief is all about. They want freedom of everything. What they want is very dangerous.”
April 13th, 2008 at 10:04 am“Iran to be pressured by U.S. dipolmacy and force.”
Go straight to force. That might get the mo fo towel-headed bed-sheeters to awake into a brave new world, target Iran.
April 13th, 2008 at 10:43 amWTF? Forget about the diplomacy thing, it does not work. We all know that it does not work, so therefore;
I’m sick and tired of being the target. Reverse course now.
Any conversations with the Iraniacs or with Sadr are just so much tagiyya, and hudna. Why waste any more time with these Nazis?
Nazis understand only one thing: force… Give the Iraniacs and their puppets in the Mahdi militia what they need…death.
Otherwise, Iraq will never be free of these mustifoon tyrants.
What Iraq wants [freedom] has been described by one Saudi cleric in a recent interview, as “..very dangerous.”
Yeah, nothing pisses off an Islamniac tyrant like Sadr or Ahmedthewhackjob more than “freedom”.
April 13th, 2008 at 11:35 amThe time is right for the glove to come off. Nukes, infrastructures, missile sites and especially any leaders.
A free Iran would look good next to a free Iraq.
Free Muslims
April 13th, 2008 at 11:40 amNancy Pelosi is the most ignorant politician I have ever observed. I hope she is voted out of office. I have never heard any politician spew such idiotic nonsense.
April 13th, 2008 at 3:01 pm