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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (16721)	11/19/2003 2:35:28 AM
From: KLP	Respond to of 793662

NYT~~Europe to Oppose U.S. Effort to Air Iran Arms Issue in U.N. By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS November 19, 2003 nytimes.com ONDON, Nov. 18 — Europe will resist an American effort to bring the suspected Iranian development of nuclear weapons before the United Nations Security Council, hoping to lure Iran into compliance with negotiations and incentives, European officials said Tuesday. The stand was a rebuff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who met in Brussels with European foreign ministers and sought a forceful response to a United Nations report that Mr. Powell said proved Iran was defying its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Later, he flew here to London to join President Bush. The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to take up a resolution this week by France, Germany and Britain that seeks to compel Iran to halt the enrichment and reprocessing of uranium and holds out the lure of future cooperation, including sharing nuclear technology for civilian use. Javier Solana, the top European Union diplomat, said Europe will follow a policy of "constructive engagement" directed at inducing Iran to abandon materials that could be used to produce weapons. European officials agreed Tuesday to demand that Iran sign a nonproliferation clause in any future treaties. Mr. Solana acknowledged that the report, drafted by Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, showed that Iran's past behavior was "not compatible" with its nonproliferation pledge. But he and European colleagues said Iran has shown a new willingness to cooperate. Earlier this week, Mr. Solana said he believed Iranian officials had been honest in their most recent disclosures. Mr. Powell, appearing at a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday, voiced doubts about whether the European approach was strong enough. "We have some reservations about the draft resolution," he said. "The fact of the matter is Iran has been in noncompliance." Later on Tuesday, on the flight to London, he said that the last draft he had seen lacked "trigger mechanisms" to punish Iran for noncompliance. He said Dr. ElBaradei agreed that the resolution was "inadequate to the report he had prepared." Bush administration officials have hewed to a tougher line toward Iran, in the wake of Dr. ElBaradei's report, which concluded that, despite transgressions in the past, there is no evidence that Iran is actively pursuing nuclear weapons. John Bolton, an undersecretary of state who is responsible for nonproliferation, declared that conclusion "simply impossible to believe." An American official, who called the report "disappointing," said Tuesday that the administration is still considering bringing the Iranian matter before the Security Council, which has the power to authorize sanctions or military action. The administration has not settled on its strategy, the diplomat said, and it may yield in the short term to the European initiative. That effort, which became public in September, was the first diplomatic undertaking by the European ministers since the divisive battles over the Iraq war. One European diplomat said that some of the ministers were eager to avoid another Iraq-style showdown at the United Nations. The diplomat said there was no appetite for a confrontation with Iran, when diplomacy still might bear fruit. "You will see Europeans united around, `Let's maintain this issue in Vienna,' " the diplomat said, adding that it would "probably create more problems than solve them by taking it to the U.N. Security Council." Mr. Powell and his counterparts also discussed Iraq, and the European envoys expressed satisfaction that the administration has moved up its timetable for handing over control to an interim government. The European diplomats also pressed Mr. Powell on citizens of their countries who are being detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Mr. Powell sounded receptive but said that American authorities must make sure that they have fully interrogated inmates before setting them free. "We are trying to resolve these detainee cases as quickly as we can," he said.

To: LindyBill who wrote (16721)	11/19/2003 2:41:05 AM
From: MSI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793662

No, that's not "cute", it's a very serious question. I'd love to see an alternate explanation for why the Mayor of London makes such extreme criticisms of our president. If we don't take them seriously we then have to ignore those comments, never mind the tens of thousands of others. The only attempt I've seen is moenmac's, who reports Chris Hitchens came up with the explanation that the signs were from a previous protest, and that the protesters were "supporting the terrorists". That deserves a bit of discussion, which was in my prior post. If there are any others I'm at a loss to imagine what they are, but maybe my own biases are limiting me from seeing them.