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Title: GOP Hopefuls Brandish Their Pro-Israel Credentials, Accuse Obama Of Weakness With Iran
Source:
Associated Press
URL Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit ... story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop
Published: Mar 6, 2012
Author: Associated Press
Post Date: 2012-03-06 12:26:50 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 1273
Comments: 1
WASHINGTON — The Republican presidential hopefuls brandished their pro-Israel credentials, accusing President Barack Obama of weakness with Iran, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked Mideast strategy with congressional leaders. Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich paused while competing for votes in the high-stakes Super Tuesday primaries to join the speakers’ lineup at a conference of America’s leading pro-Israel lobby. Romney and Gingrich appeared by satellite, while Santorum spoke to the group in person. Santorum immediately criticized Tuesday’s offer by the United States, European countries, Russia and China to resume talks with Iran on its suspected nuclear weapons program. He termed it “another appeasement, another delay, another opportunity for them to go forward while we talk.” Romney assailed the administration’s go-slow approach on Iran, saying “hope is not a foreign policy. The only thing respected by thugs and tyrants is our resolve, backed by our power and our readiness to use it.” Ron Paul, whose isolationist foreign policy positions have not endeared him to Israel’s U.S. advocates, wasn’t addressing the conference. The politicking is taking place at a time of tense debate among Israel, the United States and much of the world over the best strategy for convincing Iran to halt uranium enrichment and come clean on its nuclear activity. Tehran insists that its program is peaceful and designed for energy purposes, but the U.S. and Israel don’t believe that. The U.S. believes that Iran has the capability to make a nuclear weapon, but has not yet decided to do so. The head of the U.N. nuclear agency further fed concerns Monday by saying his organization has “serious concerns” that Iran may be hiding secret atomic weapons work. On Tuesday, however, a semi-official Iranian news agency said the country would grant U.N. inspectors access to a military complex where the nuclear agency suspects secret atomic work has been carried out. Obama has urged pressure and diplomacy, while Netanyahu has emphasized his nation’s right to pre-emptive attack. While their relations appear thawed slightly from last year’s confrontation over the Palestinians and the issue of Israeli settlements, they still don’t see eye-to-eye on the best tactics for their shared goal. “We have made clear to the regime in Tehran and to our allies in the region: we want diplomacy to work,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told the conference Tuesday, describing U.S.-Israel ties as tighter than any time during his three decades in government. “Military action is the last alternative when all else fails,” Panetta said. “But make no mistake. We will act if we have to.” The disagreement between the U.S. and Israel concerns “red lines” or benchmarks in Iran’s nuclear development that might demand a military response. Israel believes it has a shorter time frame to act because it doesn’t possess the same military technology as the United States does for attacking Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
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#1. To: Brian S, *Ron Paul for President* (#0)
AP really sucks, apparently they were unable to discover the name of this secret organization. Quit trying to cover up Oilbombers Zionist friends. Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
a conference of America’s leading pro-Israel lobby
AIPAC - The American Israel Public Affairs Committee 
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
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