Republican senator calls for talks with Iran (Dismisses military option)

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19384298.htm

WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Republican Party foreign policy expert Sen. Chuck Hagel is calling for the United States to open talks with Iran's new president and has dismissed President George W. Bush's talk of a military option against Tehran as an empty and foolish threat.

In an interview with Reuters during a trip across his home state on Wednesday, Hagel said the United States should greet the new Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a bold diplomatic stroke.

"You've got a new president, a new opportunity to do something bold here. Why not take that opportunity and do something bold? Iran is going to be a major influence in the future of Iraq. It already is. Who are we kidding when we think that they're not? They are.

"I would start engaging with American face-to-face dialogue. We're not at negotiations yet, but opening that dialogue. This is a process. This needs to work. Every side has to give something here," said Hagel, who is a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is seen as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2008.

[bearfan454]

1. Hagel wants to be the repuke candidate in 08.

So does McCain and Cheney.

[Javaman]

2. No shit, and it seems he's taking his talking points from us!

Actually TALK to Iran, hmmm, where did that come from? Not from those LIE-bral Democrats? Impossible.

colossal failure*

[Roland99]

9. I seriously doubt it.

I'm surprised Cheney hasn't been yanked and replaced with Giuliani yet. McCain is getting too old and why would Hagel end what seems to be would be a long and successful Senate career?

[KeepItReal]

14. Don't count Hagel out. He's got E-voting locked down in his favor...

Remember his "surprise upset" that got him that Senate seat in the first place...

[Tempest]

16. Hagel was once majority owner of ES&S

He was majority owner when ES&S machines were used in his own election.

[Stand and Fight]

3. Hagel's got balls.

I wish some of our Democratic Senators did.

[electropop]

10. Our guys will vote for Iran war, then against it...

and so on. However, our gals won't be so timid! Boxer '08!

[rateyes]

19. Yeah, we need some people..

with the ovaries of Boxer.

[katty]

15. Hagel is correctly, deliberately trying derail and obstruct

any preemptive strike on Iran...
bush is running out of time to pull his psychotic caper off. israel (when bush gives his OK)would probably do the initial strikes (and w/glee, they are chomping at the bit)- if this actually goes down, there is no predicting how other nations will react and the escalation of events.

[Seabiscuit]

4. Iran war scenario....

With American troops pinned down in Afghanistan and Iraq, with one-year tours of duty being extended to three years, and even huge numbers of National Guardsmen on the ground in Iraq, there are no troops to spare for an invasion of Iran. So WTF does Shrub think he's talking about???

All Shrub has is a bunch of ships, planes, missiles, and bombs. So does he think he can just bomb Iran into submission???

Suppose he does so. With no U.S. troops on the ground in Iran, the Iranians could and probably would invade Iraq and not just topple the puppet government there, but also rout the U.S. troops there.

Then what's Shrub gonna do???

What a friggin' deluded megalomaniac.

[VegasWolf]

5. Anybody that believes that we are going to war with Iran is not

very astute. Bush and what army, what money, what anything?

[atreides1]

6. You're forgetting

Rumsfeld's famous comment "we go in with the military we have", they didn't care then and they're not going to care now.

[Lerkfish]

7. I guess I'm not astute, then.

because I'm certain we are, based on the rampup rhetoric and the need to install bolton on a tight schedule.

IMHO we are looking at bombing raids as early as mid-Sept.

but I guess I'm not astute enough to give an actual date.

:nuke:

[VegasWolf]

11. Too bad! I have money to bet. We CAN'T go to war with Iran. We

have no resources left.

[Lerkfish]

12. I pray you're correct, but unfortunately, I know I am instead.

its not that I want that to happen. In fact, I'd be more than glad to fork money over to you if it DOESN't happen, but it is going to.

[VegasWolf]

13. Ok! In 6 months from now we all know who says what! Its

all on the record!

:toast:

[Lerkfish]

17. I want you win.

its that simple.

but, and however, this is a very serious matter, and not one for placing bets, IMHO.
If you view it as a game, so be it.
I view it as the horrific tragedy it will become.

[VegasWolf]

20. No, I simply don't take it seriously. I simply don't believe that there

exists either the military, economic, or political capital to start a war on Iran, especially with the big bear China backing Iran.

[Lerkfish]

22. you're operating under the assumption that the neocons

excercise good sense or logical planning.

we have evidence to the contrary.


They have a plan, and they will not be deterred, if they can help it, from taking over the Middle East and asserting America's "global leadership".

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

[VegasWolf]

25. Yes, your opinion is on the record, and mine too! nt

[malachi]

8. Chimp declares victory in Iraq and sends everyone and everything to

Iran. No problem, piece of cake. Just ask rummy.

[The Stranger]

18. What makes you think Bush is astute?

A stooge, maybe, but not astute. He will do what they tell him to do, and what he thinks "God" tells him to do.

[bpilgrim]

21. Anybody that believes that we are NOT going to war with Iran is not

pay'n attention to whos driv'n da bus. :nuke:

peace

[politick]

26. I agree

but my paranoid (and fairly well-red) side says that these guys are truly in preparations for the Great Big Grab. It's already begun. And the Israle strike option, paired with the nuclear option is, sadly, not outside the realm of possibility when it comes to these people. All they'd have to do is engagge other Arab nations, enflame that already flaming region, and, GOd forbid, use another attack on American soil to launch aggression. Then sit back and see which side China and Russia fall on for the great chess match. Do I think this is likely to happen any time soon? No. Would I rule it out? No.

[joanski0]

23. Who's going to do the talking for the US?

Amb. John Bolton. Yes, that will get us into a war alright!

[Maggie_May]

24. Did Hagel just have a brain fart

He called Bush a fool. It takes a fool to know a fool. I don't trust any of them.