[Peace-discuss] Clinton embraces Bush position on Iran

[C. G. Estabrook]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6388736,00.html

	Sen. Clinton: Iran Is a Threat to Israel
	Friday February 2, 2007 1:01 PM
	By SAMANTHA GROSS
	Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Calling Iran a danger to the U.S. and one of Israel's
greatest threats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that ``no 
option can be taken off the table'' when dealing with that nation.

``U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal: We cannot, we should not, 
we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons,'' Clinton 
told a crowd of Israel supporters. ``In dealing with this threat ... no 
option can be taken off the table.''

Clinton, D-N.Y., spoke at a Manhattan dinner held by the nation's 
largest pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs 
Committee. Some 1,700 supporters applauded as she cited her efforts on 
behalf of the Jewish state and spoke scathingly of Iran's decision to 
hold a conference last month that questioned whether the Holocaust took 
place.

``To deny the Holocaust places Iran's leadership in company with the 
most despicable bigots and historical revisionists,'' Clinton said, 
criticizing what she called the Iranian administration's 
``pro-terrorist, anti-American, anti-Israeli rhetoric.''

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called the 
Holocaust a ``myth'' and said Israel should be ``wiped off the map'' and 
its Jews returned to Europe.

Iran insists its nuclear program is designed to produce energy, not 
weapons. Ahmadinejad said Thursday that his government is determined to 
continue with its nuclear program, despite U.N. Security Council 
sanctions imposed over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process 
that can produce fuel to generate electricity or for the fissile core of 
an atomic bomb.

Clinton, the front-runner for her party's presidential nomination, 
called for dialogue with foes of the United States, saying Iran ``uses 
its influence and its revenues in the region to support terrorist 
elements.''

``We need to use every tool at our disposal, including diplomatic and
economic in addition to the threat and use of military force,'' she said.

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