Raw Story reports that some congressional Democrats will begin holding informal hearings today about the situation in Iran and Rep Ed Markey of Massachussets has written a letter to Bush, which he hopes others will sign, expressing concern over possible US nuclear strikes against Iran.
While we share your concern about Iran's irresponsible violations of its commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and safeguards agreement which Iran signed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), we do not believe that the U.S. should threaten to use nuclear weapons to resolve this crisis. We would also note that as the U.S. seeks to ensure strict Iranian compliance with its obligations under the NPT, we should keep in mind the fact that in connection with the 1995 NPT review conference, the United States issued a statement reaffirming earlier U.N. Security Council pledges that the U.S. "will not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon States Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons except in the case of an invasion or any other attack on the United States, its territories, its armed forces or other troops, its allies, or on a State towards which it has a security commitment, carried out or sustained by such a non-nuclear-weapon State in association or alliance with a nuclear-weapon State." We are not aware of any subsequent statements changing this position.
The Democrats will also address the doctrine of preemptive war during their hearings. In my opinion, this letter by Markey doesn't go far enough. It should have included a statement against any type of preemptive attack, nuclear or non-nuclear.
The Washington Post reports today that Iran is seeking direct talks with the Bush administration, not only via the letter Iran's president sent to Bush this month, which was quickly rejected by Condi Rice who hadn't even received the full translation at the time she commented on it, but by sending word via other channels:
Laylaz and several diplomats said senior Iranian officials have asked a multitude of intermediaries to pass word to Washington making clear their appetite for direct talks. He said Ali Larijani, chairman of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, passed that message to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, who arrived in Washington Tuesday for talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley.
Iranian officials made similar requests through Indonesia, Kuwait and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Laylaz said. American intelligence analysts also say Larijani's urgent requests for meetings with senior officials in France and Germany appear to be part of a bid for dialogue with Washington.
"They've been desperate to do it," said a European diplomat in Tehran.
U.S. intelligence analysts have assessed the letter as a major overture, an appraisal shared by analysts and foreign diplomats resident in Iran. Bush administration officials, however, have dismissed the proposed opening as a tactical move.
Efforts at diplomacy are now identified as 'tactical move[s]', while the Bush administration prefers to let the EU3 handle any negotiations in a move that mirrors how it's handling relations with North Korea - expecting regional interests to determine the US response to the country targeted as another member of the so-called 'Axis of Evil'.
One would think that direct talks with countries determined to be such imminent threats would be desirable. Instead, the Bush administration will simply blame any failures of diplomacy with Iran and North Korea on the other countries involved in those talks while claiming that it has exhausted every possible avenue to resolve the conflicts - a transparent dismissal of personal responsibility that will be used to justify any coming attacks.
The international community needs to put more pressure on the United States government to directly involve itself in the process unless it wants to be left as the fall guy for Bush's next military misadventure.
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