Sunday, August 14, 2005
Gerhard Schroeder once again denounces the United States
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has told an election campaign rally that the military option for resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear programme should be "taken off the table".
"We're all concerned about the developments in Iran," he said.
"We don't want nuclear weapons to proliferate further."
But Mr Schroeder said diplomacy was the answer.
"I've read that military options are also on the table," he said.
"My answer to that is: 'Dear friends in Europe and America, let's develop a strong negotiating position towards Iran, but take the military option off the table'."
How will taking the military option "off the table" strengthen our negotiating position toward Iran? The whole idea is incomprehensible. Why would Iran be more inclined to negotiate if it knew it were immune from military consequences? Don't give me sanctions -- the Iranians have already survived some of the worst sanctions that the world might throw at them, and in any case there is no evidence that sanctions can work against a country that swims in oil. Both the West and China are much too needy of imported petroleum.
And no, I'm not saying that it would be a good idea to attack Iran -- I tend to think that it would be a very bad idea. But it does not improve the negotiating position of the West to clarify that point for the Iranians, who might just be worried that Bush is whacko enough to do it. Gerhard Schroeder is either too stupid to understand the importance of such seemingly irrational posturing in negotiation, or he is deliberately sacrificing the security of the West in order to seek re-election. The evidence points toward the latter:
Mr Schroeder's speech will also revive memories of the last election campaign three years ago, when he strongly opposed the idea of attacking Iraq.
Then, as now, his Social Democratic Party (SPD) was far behind in the opinion polls, and the position on Iraq is generally believed to have been a factor in helping him win the election.
It is too early to judge whether Iran can help revive Mr Schroeder's fortunes in a similar way, but his remarks drew rapturous applause and whoops of support from the several thousand-strong crowd gathered by the Hanover Opera House.
We are at the poker table with Iran. The mullahs do not know what cards we hold, and do not know how much we are willing to bet. How can it possibly improve our position to tell the Iranians what we will or will not do in advance of securing their agreement? It is astonishing to me that even a German socialist would think otherwise.
We need to make Gerhard Schroeder understand that if he continues to undermine the United States in its confrontation with Iran he will be doing irreparable harm to Germany's relationship with the United States. President Bush should put him on ice right now.
5 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Aug 14, 04:45:00 PM:
Iran already knows the military option is off the table. We're far too mired in Iraq to try anything in Iran. Bush has undermined himself in this confrontation with Iran.
By 
Cardinalpark, at
Sun Aug 14, 05:25:00 PM:
Ivan:
What planet are you on? We have a significant number , over 200,000 troops, surrounding Iran...on every border. We could bomb the place into a pulp and rhey have no place to go.
Not only is the military option on the table...we have the people in place to execute on it.
By Kannafoot, at
Sun Aug 14, 09:09:00 PM:
Schroeder's comments bring us one step closer to being forced to use a military option. Once Iran truly believes that option is off the table, there will be no hope for a non-military solution. What other incentive do they have to negotiate? Economic incentives? They have all the economic incentives they need flowing beneath their sand. No, the military option is the only viable negotiating point available to us. Only if Iran believes we will use it will there be any hope of them willingly curtailing operations.
By TigerHawk, at
Sun Aug 14, 11:36:00 PM:
The threat of force against Iran can be both unwise and credible. Indeed, the widespread assumption (like it or not) that Bush is unwise or improvident or quick on the trigger is one of our strongest cards. Never forget the negotiating leverage embedded in the "rationality of irrationality." It works especially well when the other side does not [yet] have nuclear weapons.
It does not matter whether we actually could take out Iran's nuclear capability, or would want to, by military means. The only thing that's important right now is for the mullahs to think that we might.
By Cardinalpark, at
Mon Aug 15, 02:24:00 PM:
By the way...Schroeder is political toast anyway. The key next step on getting Germany back on track is chucking him out of office...Let's see what the German volk do...
