[Peace-discuss] What Kissinger Said: "I Do Not Believe That We Can Make Conditions"

[Robert Naiman]

I leave Carl's other points to others.

But the point that I am interested in - which I thought was
straightforward - one often suspects with Carl that his
misunderstandings are deliberate - was not who quoted Kissinger
correctly, as if we were scoring the high school debate team. The
point I am interested in is the fact that five former U.S. Secretaries
of State - two Democrat, three Republican - say we should talk to Iran
without preconditions.

Regardless of what one thinks of Obama on this or any other issue,
this is an important point and it was a good thing that Obama made it.
McCain tried to obfuscate it, that's why I wrote that piece; to
underline the point and counterattack the obfuscation.


On Sat, Sep 27, 2008 at 4:12 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> It shows to what farcical depths the presidential election has sunk that it
> seems important to decide which of these nonentities has correctly quoted
> the
> small-minded war criminal Henry Kissinger.
>
> Bob writes, "Do we want ... confrontation with Iran in a McCain-Palin
> Administration pursuing the neoconservative policies of the early Bush
> Administration, or do we want to seriously pursue negotiations that could
> lead
> to an agreement that would help stabilize the whole Middle East,
> significantly
> facilitating U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and promoting stability in
> Afghanistan
> and Pakistan?"  But that's not the alternative that's on offer.
>
> A more accurate version is, "Do we want ... confrontation with Iran in a
> McCain-Palin Administration pursuing the neoconservative policies of the
> early
> Bush Administration, or do we want military action in Pakistan in a
> Obama-Biden
> administration pursuing the Realist polices of the current Bush
> Administration?"
>
> In fact, the question may be moot, because
>    (a) military action against Pakistan -- which Obama calls for more
> urgently
> than McCain -- is already underway, and Obama's intention  is to improve
> upon
> the "baby steps" (as his adviser says) already taken by the Realists in the
> Bush
> administration in this regard; and
>    (b) a McCain presidency -- whatever he says on the hustings -- will
> probably
> give way to the consensus of the military and the foreign policy
> establishment
> (remember how both McCain and Obama say that they will be guided by the
> "commanders on the ground") that the dangerous source of opposition to US
> military hegemony in the Middle East is Pakistan.  They recognize (as the
> leading English language journalist in Iraq, Patrick Cockburn, points out)
> that
> the cooperation of Iran is essential for the US pacification of Iraq -- and
> for the US attack on Pakistan, for which they have shown  a remarkable
> enthusiasm already. (Another exchange of fire between US helicopters and
> Pakistani troops seems to have gone largely unreported earlier this week.)
>
> The neocons -- holed up in the OVP and concentrating on avoiding prosecution
> (that's what the MCA was about) -- have been largely brushed aside, and
> Obama
> argues for continuity by suggesting that he will retain Gates at DOD.  The
> neocons will undoubtedly try to improve their fortunes in a McCain
> presidency,
> but the matter of whom to concentrate on killing, Pakistanis or Iranians,
> may
> have already been decided within the government when McCain (or Obama) is
> inaugurated.  --CGE
>
>
> Robert Naiman wrote:
>>
>> Jim Lehrer missed an opportunity last night to help clarify for people
>> watching the debate what is in dispute between Democrats like Barack Obama
>> and Republicans like John McCain about U.S. policy towards Iran. For the
>> record, this is what McCain adviser former U.S. Secretary of State Henry
>> Kissinger said about U.S. policy towards Iran, according to the transcript
>> on
>>  CNN's website:
>>
>> "I am in favor of negotiating with Iran.... But I do not believe that we
>> can make conditions for the opening of negotiations." ... What [the neocons]
>> fear
>>  is not that talks would be useless, but that they might be productive...
>>
>>
>> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/what-kissinger-said-i-do_b_129869.html
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/27/11318/6202
>
>



-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

Ambassador Pickering on Iran Talks and Multinational Enrichment
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kGZFrFxVg8A