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Senator Kerry would seek direct talks with Iran: adviser
IRNADemocratic presidential hopeful John Kerry will seek direct talks with Iran if he wins the White House, his foreign policy chief said Thursday. âBoy what a surpriseâ Rand Beers, national security issues coordinator for the Massachusetts senator, was critical of President George W. Bush for shunning direct dialogue with Iran after branding it a member of an "axis of evil," dispatches indicated. âyes that wanât very nice of George-we know better and have access to more intelligence, what does he know anyway-how dare heâ Speaking to a foreign policy forum, Beers said the question of nuclear non-proliferation was one of the most significant issues facing the world and Washington should press harder to advance negotiations. âcouldnât we just drop a bomb on those reactors and get it over with now?â Beers said Kerry, currently leading the pack in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, sought more direct efforts to thaw relations with Iran that have been frozen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. âWell I guess Kerry can add another flag to his collection along with the North Vietnamese flagâ "John Kerry is not saying that he is looking for better relations with Iran. He is looking for a dialogue with Iran," Beers said. "There are some issues on which we really need to sit down with the Iranians." âYa like where are your nukes?â He listed the cultivation of opium poppies in neighboring Afghanistan, terrorism and nuclear non-proliferation as among the questions Kerry would like to take up directly with Tehran. âoh boy drugsâ "It`s a realistic sitting down and having the kinds of discussions that we`re just not having because this administration is so tied in its own ideological views of Iran and waiting for the Iranian regime to collapse." âwell letâs see sponsors terrorism, hides terrorists, supplies arms-why should we be mad about that?â He said Kerry would want to work with a "broad range of countries" to stem the traffic in materials that could fall into the wrong hands and help make nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. âYes a letter or two ought to fix that problemâ "We`re going to have look at international (non-proliferation) regimes that currently exist and probably go through some revisions of those regimes in order to find a way to approach and address these problems," Beers said. âIâm so reassured nowâ Posted by: dataman1 2004-02-06 |
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