Harry Reid says now take charge of Iran talks

Iran: Harry Reid pulling a Hillary Clinton on us?

The Bush administration is relying too heavily on other countries in the international effort to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, according to Sen. Harry Reid. Reid, D-Nev., said the administration should be taking the lead, but instead is relying on Germany, France and Great Britain to convince Iran to end its uranium enrichment program. "It is hard to comprehend," Reid said Tuesday in Reno. "We should be involved at trying to arrive at a diplomatic solution. ... Not just these three countries." Reid said the Middle East is a "powder keg" because of U.S. failures in Iraq, the rise of fundamentalism and the recent election of Hamas in Palestine. "Our not being involved diplomatically in trying to solve the situation in Iran shows the Bush failure in foreign policy there and elsewhere."

What kind of deal would Mr. Reid like America to give to Iran? According to the "National Security Advisory Group " Reid and Pelosi endorsed this recommendation for Iran.

Democratic Leaders Address the Threat of Weapons of Mass Destruction Wednesday, July 20, 2005 Reid and Pelosi Receive Report from National Security Advisory Group Washington, D.C. - The failure of action by the Bush Administration to fully protect Americans from the terrorist threat of weapons of mass destruction was addressed today by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who stood with members of the National Security Advisory Group, chaired by former Defense Secretary William J. Perry. Perry delivered a report to the leaders entitled, "Worst Weapons in Worst Hands: U.S. Inaction on the Nuclear Terror Threat Since 9/11, And A Path Of Action," which details the significant shortcomings by the Bush Administration to contain these weapons and materials and offers key recommendations that will help to protect Americans from this threat. ....On Iran, to achieve any deal the U.S. government must settle on a course of action. A five-year global moratorium on all new enrichment and reprocessing, as called for by Mohammed ElBaradei, is the key. Will require international cooperation in assembling both a bundle of carrots and an arsenal of sticks. U.S., the EU3, Russia, and the IAEA need to present Iran with a bargain, packaged as an offer Iran cannot refuse. It would offer cover for Iran to comply with an international obligation without explicitly yielding to American or EU3 demands.

A global stoppage is not happening, Russia/China have already said they will not sanction Iran, Iran realized long ago as I noted here there is no credible threat of anyone except America doing anything to them, so it is in their best interest to keep going on with the process. Other words, Reid is full of it. At this point giving Iran even more than what they already achieved would be a disaster. Interesting side notes that Dianne Feinstein did her Chamberlain impression as well this weekend while Hillary did a reverse in praising the EU3 then trashing them. So the play this week is to forget all the talk about multilateralism and complain America should take the lead with a more gung-ho approach. I will leave out a more detailed explaination on why Iran would refuse to talk to America in the lead other than it is more rewarding to deal with the EU3.