- #141
seycyrus
Art said:You're just being silly now.
Am I? Just following the logical path.
What is the current aim of the sanctions? You claim that they are not working, which means that aims are not being addressed.
Art said:You're just being silly now.
Art said:That the same treaty Iran is in compliance with but was criticised for not signing the additional protocol?
Art said:The same one Israel wouldn't sign at all?
Art said:The same one under which America signed up to scrap all of it's nuclear arsenal??
There's not a shred of misrepresentation there, intentional or not. McCain was talking about a peacetime occupation along the lines of South Korea and Japan, and has explained this position repeatedly. Obama can make this perfectly clear - it would still not make the Iraqis any less pissed off. But the point I was making is that such a speech in foreign land (where he need have done nothing more than replay the audio from the town hall meeting where McCain made the statement) would surely incense Republican sensitivities, as events in the past have. That's a double standard.seycyrus said:I'm not sure of the point you are making here. Are you providing another example of a misstated position? If so, you succeeded.
I think we owe it to ourselves on PF to steer away from such obvious intentional misinterpretations of what people have said.
Bush: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."mheslep said:Then there must have been another Presidential speech given we have not seen here, because that's not a 'simple truth' that can be drawn from the Israeli speech. Bush did not say don't talk any hostile states, nor does he necessarily equate diplomacy with appeasement.
And I quote Gates from an interview he gave last week:The US position on Iran is clear across State and DoD: US will talk to them one on one about anything if they kill their nuclear program, as I've seen Sec Rice say in the same room with the Iranians.
http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4230I think that the one area where the Iraq Study Group recommendations have not been followed up is in terms of reaching out the Iranians. And I would just tell you I've gone through kind of an evolution on this myself. I co-chaired with Zbig a Council on Foreign Relations study on U.S. policy toward Iran, in 2004. But we were looking at a different Iran in many respects. We were looking at an Iran where Khatami was the president. We were looking at an Iran where their behavior in Iraq actually was fairly ambivalent in 2004. They were doing some things that were not helpful, but they were also doing some things that were helpful.
And one of the questions that I think historians will have to take a look at is whether there was a missed opportunity at that time. But with the election of Ahmadinejad and the very unambiguous role that Iran is playing in a negative sense in Iraq today, you know, I sort of sign up with Tom Friedman's column today. We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage with respect to the Iranians and then sit down and talk with them. If there's going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander with them not feeling that they need anything from us.
sigh... Okay I'll explain it to you.seycyrus said:Am I? Just following the logical path.
What is the current aim of the sanctions? You claim that they are not working, which means that aims are not being addressed.
Since a good portion of the above contradicts the statements of the IAEA and the United Nations could please provide a source?Art said:sigh... Okay I'll explain it to you.
Iran's nuclear program began under the Shah in 1967 with American help. IIRC the plan was to build something like 23 reactors by 2000. Now the US argue why would Iran with it's oil possibly need nuclear reactors unless for weapons. Well I'd say whatever the answer to that question was then is the same now.
...
After the revolution Iran's nuclear program fell into disrepair but was revived later with Iran informing the IAEA it intended to develop a full nuclear cycle including the enrichment of nuclear fuel as they were perfectly entitled to do under the terms of the NPT. Initially the IAEA agreed, as they were bound to, to assist Iran but backed off under US pressure and the US refused to supply Iran with the fuel they had contracted for or to return the billions of $s paid for it. The countries contracted to build the reactors which were only partially complete also pulled out under US pressure. This coupled with the Iraq-Iran war led to a shutdown of the program.
In 1992 following media allegations of undeclared nuclear activity the Iranian's invited the IAEA to investigate any site they wished to see following which the DG Blix declared that 'all activities observed were consistent with the peaceful use of atomic energy.'
In 1996 Iran obtained an agreement with Russia to restart it's program.
In 2002 Iran was accused of having secret undeclared facilities which was a trumped up spurious charge as under the terms of the NPT Iran was under no obligation to declare any facility until 6 months before the facility was due to receive a shipment of nuclear fuel.
The only genuine charges against Iran of illegal nuclear activity are related to the period when the US's friend the Shah was in control which did not trouble the US in the slightest at the time so one can understand Iran's frustration now that the new gov't is in effect being punished for what the American puppet leader did before he was deposed.
The situation now is the US are trying to prevent Iran from enriching uranium despite them having a perfect legal right to do so and despite the sanctions imposed Iran has continued to exercise their right.
If the US want Iran to forgo their legal right to enrich uranium then IMO the way to do it is to talk to them and see if there is something they can offer in return or to see if they can agree safeguards to everyones' satisfaction.
As the above is my own composition gleaned from numerous sources you will need to tell me specifically which point/s you wish to contest and I'll provide a source to support my contention.mheslep said:Since a good portion of the above contradicts the statements of the IAEA and the United Nations could please provide a source?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3983-2005Mar26.htmlPast Arguments Don't Square With Current Iran Policy
By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 27, 2005; Page A15
Lacking direct evidence, Bush administration officials argue that Iran's nuclear program must be a cover for bomb-making. Vice President Cheney recently said, "They're already sitting on an awful lot of oil and gas. Nobody can figure why they need nuclear as well to generate energy."
Yet Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and outgoing Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz held key national security posts when the Ford administration made the opposite argument 30 years ago.
snip
The U.S. offer, details of which appear in declassified documents reviewed by The Washington Post, did not include the uranium enrichment capabilities Iran is seeking today. But the United States tried to accommodate Iranian demands for plutonium reprocessing, which produces the key ingredient of a bomb.
After balking initially, President Gerald R. Ford signed a directive in 1976 offering Tehran the chance to buy and operate a U.S.-built reprocessing facility for extracting plutonium from nuclear reactor fuel. The deal was for a complete "nuclear fuel cycle" -- reactors powered by and regenerating fissile materials on a self-sustaining basis.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-990775.htmlAtomic Team Reports on Iran Probe; No Weapons Research Found by Inspectors
From:
The Washington Post
Date:
February 15, 1992
Author:
Michael Z. Wise | Copyright information Copyright 1992 The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post.
International Atomic Energy Agency officials returning from a seven-day visit to Iran said the country's activities appeared consistent with a peaceful nuclear energy program, a finding that Iranian officials said should clear the way for greater technical assistance from abroad.
But Western delegates to the agency, a United Nations group charged with halting illicit production of nuclear weapons as well as promoting civilian nuclear power, said Iranian nuclear ambitions warrant continued vigilance and Western retention of an informal embargo on shipments of sensitive materials to Iran.
Iran invited the IAEA visit to dispel reports of undeclared nuclear facilities on its territory
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Board/2003/gov2003-40.pdfImplementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran
snip
15. The Subsidiary Arrangements General Part in force with Iran from 1976 to 26 February 2003
included what was, until 1992, standard text which called for provision to the Agency of design
information on a new facility no later than 180 days before the introduction of nuclear material into the facility,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5346524.stmBBC NEWS
US Iran report branded dishonest
The UN nuclear watchdog has protested to the US government over a report on Iran's nuclear programme, calling it "erroneous" and "misleading".
In a leaked letter, the IAEA said a congressional report contained serious distortions of the agency's own findings on Iran's nuclear activity.
snip
The letter went on to brand "outrageous and dishonest" a suggestion in the report that he was removed for not adhering "to an unstated IAEA policy barring IAEA officials from telling the whole truth" about Iran.
The letter, sent to Peter Hoekstra, head of the House of Representatives' Select Committee on Intelligence, was aimed at setting "the record straight on the facts", the IAEA said.
"This is a matter of the integrity of the IAEA and its inspectors," spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in a statement.
A Western diplomat called it "deja vu of the pre-Iraq war period".
The IAEA and the US clashed over intelligence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war in Iraq in March 2003.
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Board/2005/gov2005-77.pdfArt said:...In 2002 Iran was accused of having secret undeclared facilities which was a trumped up spurious charge as under the terms of the NPT Iran was under no obligation to declare any facility until 6 months before the facility was due to receive a shipment of nuclear fuel.
The only genuine charges against Iran of illegal nuclear activity are related to the period when the US's friend the Shah was in control...
1. Finds that Iran’s many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply with its NPT Safeguards Agreement, as detailed in GOV/2003/75, constitute non compliance in the context of Article XII.C of
the Agency’s Statute;
2. Finds also that the history of concealment of Iran’s nuclear activities referred to in the Director General’s report, the nature of these activities, issues brought to light in the course of the Agency’s verification of declarations made by Iran since September 2002 and the resulting absence of confidence that Iran’s nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes have given rise to questions that are within the competence of the Security Council, as the organ bearing the main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security;
Your timing is a little out. The sites became an issue in 2002, as I have already pointed out Iran did not sign the new safeguards agreement until 2003.mheslep said:Most specifically this
http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Board/2005/gov2005-77.pdf
which states in partIran first signed a safeguards agreement in '92 and an http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2003/iranap20031218.html" which principally specifies the inspections regime used by the IAEA. The IAEA found Iran in violation of the its safeguards agreement in '05, the exact findings of which are linked above. Absent a safeguards agreement an NPT signatory does not have a legal right to enrich. In turn the IAEA referred the matter to the UN security council which required Iran to cease all enrichment activities and imposed some sanctions. Though Iran has cooperated in some regards, it still continues to enrich and hence the latest UN round of sanctions, drafted by France and the UK. The vote was 14-0.
??Art said:Your timing is a little out. The sites became an issue in 2002, as I have already pointed out Iran did not sign the new safeguards agreement until 2003.
note They still have not formally signed the Additional Protocol agreement and so the charge they were in breach of the NPT which they did sign was incorrect.
I meant ratified.mheslep said:??
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2003/iranap20031218.html
Iran Signs Additional Protocol on Nuclear Safeguards
http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2005/october-2005/Iran_nuclear_91005.shtmlIRAN CONFIRMS STOPPING ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL OF THE NPT
Iran accepted the Protocols on October 2003 and suspended on a voluntary basis all nuclear activities, but the government of former president Mohammad Khatami did not presented it to the Majles, or the Parliament for final approval.
The present parliament, controlled by the ruling conservatives has urged the new Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nezhad to consider getting out of the Additional Protocol and has said that it would not approve it if the Government submit it for acceptance.
I assume you refer to some internal parliamentary Iranian action? How is that relevant in terms of what they are bound to do under the NPT and its derivatives? Iran sent its representative to sign that Protocols agreement, the IAEA found that they violated it in numerous ways; Iran is then in violation of the NPT and has no legal right to enrich.Art said:I meant ratified.
lol Think Kyoto Agreement! But in any case it is irrelevant, my point remains, the 'secret' plants which caused such consternation predated any of this.mheslep said:I assume you refer to some internal parliamentary Iranian action? How is that relevant in terms of what they are bound to do under the NPT and its derivatives? Iran sent its representative to sign that Protocols agreement, the IAEA found that they violated it in numerous ways; Iran is then in violation of the NPT and has no legal right to enrich.
Iran is still withholding critical information that could determine whether it is trying to make nuclear weapons, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a restricted report.
The nine-page report, obtained by CNN on Monday, detailed a number of recent meetings with Iranian officials who deny conducting weapons research and continue to stymie the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency.
"The agency is continuing to assess the information and explanations provided by Iran," the report said. "However, at this stage, Iran has not provided the agency with all the information, access to documents and access to individuals necessary to support Iran's statements."
That is not my point. It is indeed irrelevant because of NPT III:Art said:lol Think Kyoto Agreement! But in any case it is irrelevant, my point remains, the 'secret' plants which caused such consternation predated any of this.
That is, non-NWS NPTs don't have a choice, they must reach an agreement for safeguards (i.e. inspections). Absent this agreement there are logically only two options: one, forego any nuclear processing or two, process and violate the NPT. Iran has unquestionably chosen the latter.Article III: Each non-NWS party undertakes to conclude an agreement with the IAEA for the application of its safeguards to all nuclear material in all of the state's peaceful nuclear activities and to prevent diversion of such material to nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.
is incorrect, Iran has no such legal right.Art said:The only genuine charges against Iran of illegal nuclear activity are related to the period when the US's friend the Shah was in control...
The situation now is the US are trying to prevent Iran from enriching uranium despite them having a perfect legal right to do so and despite the sanctions imposed Iran has continued to exercise their right.
Read this againmheslep said:That is not my point. It is irrelevant because of NPT III:
That is, NWS NWTs don't have a choice, they must reach an agreement for safeguards (i.e. inspections). Absent this agreement there are logically only two options: one, forego any nuclear processing or two, process and violate the NPT. Iran has unquestionably chosen the latter.
Thus this
is incorrect, Iran has no such legal right.
Iran is still working under the provisions of the original safeguards it agreed under the NPT it signed and ratified. If they weren't you wouldn't be getting any IAEA reportsImplementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran
snip
15. The Subsidiary Arrangements General Part in force with Iran from 1976 to 26 February 2003 included what was, until 1992, standard text which called for provision to the Agency of design information on a new facility no later than 180 days before the introduction of nuclear material into the facility,
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2008/iranreport0508.htmlThe report is being circulated at the request of the UN Security Council, which on 3 March 2008 asked for "a further report within 90 days from the Director General of the IAEA on whether Iran has established full and sustained suspension of all activities mentioned in resolution 1737 (2006), as well as on the process of Iranian compliance with all the steps required by the IAEA Board and with the other provisions of resolution 1737 (2006), resolution 1747 (2007) and [resolution 1803 (2008)], to the IAEA Board of Governors and in parallel to the Security Council for its consideration."
Really, that was a brilliant speech Bush gave to the Knesset!Appeasement? Bush straddles line with Sudan
WASHINGTON - Sometime in the next few weeks, a special envoy of President Bush plans to meet with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, whose government sheltered Osama bin Laden and pursued a scorched-earth policy in southern Sudan that resulted in more than 2 million deaths.
Bashir's government has been accused by Bush of participating in a "genocide" in Darfur, the only U.S. government use of such a strong accusation. Yet Richard S. Williamson's visit to Khartoum follows a series of direct contacts by senior Bush administration officials with the Sudanese president, including Secretaries of State Colin L. Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Rice's deputies, and several special presidential envoys.
Bush has spoken to or exchanged letters with Bashir on numerous occasions, underscoring how White House policy has departed from his pointed public call to shun talks with radical tyrants and dictators.
Strange! No mention of radicals or terrorists!White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the administration has been willing to talk with both Sudan and Iran -- though in the case of Iran, only if it halts uranium enrichment. "We enter into discussions with countries where we have leverage to achieve results," he said.
Quick browse here and the first point is a misstatement of NPT VI. Please quote the treaty.Art said:...the US who are themselves in breach of the NPT by,
1) Not dismantling their nuclear arsenal as required to under the NPT
...
Clearly the nuclear arms race has ceased and US weapons stockpiles have been greatly reduced....undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.
Read your own quotes! Where does the treaty call for the nuclear powers to reduce their arsenals? You accuse me of misstating the treaty calling for complete nuclear disarmament and then proceed to quote where it calls for "general and complete disarmament." Has that happened? No! Is there a snowball's chance in hell of that happening? No, especially as Bush has stated officially he intends to maintain an effective nuclear deterrent! (no good faith negotiations there!) Has the US continued to develop new nuclear weapons? Yes!mheslep said:Quick browse here and the first point is a misstatement of NPT VI. Please quote the treaty.
Clearly the nuclear arms race has ceased and US weapons stockpiles have been greatly reduced.
You do so blatantly. Please stop.Art said:Read your own quotes! Where does the treaty call for the nuclear powers to reduce their arsenals? You accuse me of misstating the treaty calling for complete nuclear disarmament
The treaty clearly says "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation" ... comma "and on ...". What part of 'pursue negotiations' don't you understand? What you are suggesting doesn't even make sense. The NPT demands signatories just disarm by a date unspecified in the treaty or they are in material breach of the treaty? All signers were then in breach the day they signed by that logic. No responsible IAEA member is going around saying the weapons states are in breach because they are weapons states....and then proceed to quote where it calls for "general and complete disarmament." Has that happened?
Bush-isms? This discussion has descended into a resuscitation of articles of faith; it is not a discussion. I'm done.... No! Is there a snowball's chance in hell of that happening? No, especially as Bush has stated ...
Articles of faith, Bush-isms! :rofl: That's not a kindly way to refer to official Whitehouse communiques.mheslep said:You do so blatantly. Please stop.The treaty clearly says "pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation" ... comma "and on ...". What part of 'pursue negotiations' don't you understand? What you are suggesting doesn't even make sense. The NPT demands signatories just disarm by a date unspecified in the treaty or they are in material breach of the treaty? All signers were then in breach the day they signed by that logic. No responsible IAEA member is going around saying the weapons states are in breach because they are weapons states.
Bush-isms? This discussion has descended into a resuscitation of articles of faith; it is not a discussion. I'm done.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/12/20071218-3.htmlThe President's decision further advances policies that he has advocated since assuming office. We are reducing our nuclear weapons stockpile to the lowest level consistent with America's national security and our commitments to friends and allies. A credible deterrent remains an essential part of U.S. national security, and nuclear forces remain key to meeting emerging security challenges
Art said:Has that happened? No! Is there a snowball's chance in hell of that happening?
Art said:No, especially as Bush has stated officially he intends to maintain an effective nuclear deterrent! (no good faith negotiations there!)
BobG said:Are you sure it's fair to call Borah's intentions appeasement?
Here's a Borah quote from 1938, after Hitler was given the Sudetenland of Czechoslavakia:
I think it's more fair to say Borah felt Hitler made a tactical error, not that the US should be negotiating with Hitler to stop his aggression.Gad, what a chance Hitler has! If he only moderates his religious and racial intolerance, he would take his place beside Charlemagne. He has taken Europe without firing a shot.
Borah was old (mid-70's) and nearing the end of his life (in fact, he died about a year later), so he was becoming pretty erratic and unreasonable. He came to deplore Roosevelt for being a near dictator, but admired Hitler, remarking, "There are so many great sides to him."
From: A Lion Among the Liberals
mheslep said:I think they should have thrown him in the same cage with Ezra Pound.
How so?BobG said:You'll love Pat Buchanan's new book, then.
Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War"? Read a review; Buchanan is apparently after antagonizers esp. Churchill, not appeasers. His thesis is (in part) the harsh Versailles settlement was a vehicle that allowed Hitler to rise; Churchill and the like were culpable for that. Yes, and? Sounds like grade school history. How does he get a book out of that?I haven't read it, but I was listening to him talk about it this morning. Buchanan has a history of being really way out there, but woah!
Mullen said:I will say this, however: My position with regard to the Iranian regime hasn't changed. They remain a destabilizing factor in the region, and that's evident and actually more evident when one visits. But I'm convinced a solution still lies in using other elements of national power to change Iranian behavior, including diplomatic, financial and international pressure. There is a need for better clarity, even dialogue at some level.
mheslep said:How so? Churchill, Hitler, and "The Unnecessary War"? Read a review; Buchanan is apparently after antagonizers esp. Churchill, not appeasers. His thesis is (in part) the harsh Versailles settlement was a vehicle that allowed Hitler to rise; Churchill and the like were culpable for that. Yes, and? Sounds like grade school history. How does he get a book out of that?
Buchanan is always more trouble than he is worth: he's smart, he's seen government up close, but he is not a historian, he lacks that discipline; and likewise with his economic commentaries. So he comes up with some good insights here, there; commanding a 'well he's probably right about that one isn't he' but then misses the larger context because he lacks the historian's perspective. In this case he appears to ridiculously elevate the bad above the good. I think Nazism, murderous anti-antisemitism in 19th/early 20th century Europe, and a war to stop it all were coming sooner or later, Versailles or no. Churchill recognized the threat Hitler posed, and then never flinched in guiding Britain through a war it might well have lost.