Obama's Shifting Stances on Iran

[wyldwolf]

Barack Obama has been a chameleon on the issue of Iraq. Last year, he favored designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a ‘terrorist” organization, yet missed the vote on a nonbinding resolution stating that exact thing earlier this year.

Afterward, at the CNN debate, Obama suggested he made his opposition to Kyl-Lieberman clear 'at the time of the vote.’ Sen. Obama missed the vote and said nothing at the time the vote occurred. His campaign didn't release a statement until 9 hours after the vote. The vote occurred at 12:44PM. Sen. Obama didn't issue a statement until after 10PM.

The issue also came up at a presidential debate that night, and Sen. Obama didn't mention it.

Aside from the above mentioned, Obama has flip-flopped on three other issues involving Iran:

1. On Using American Forces In Iraq To Blunt Iranian Threat.
2. On Iran’s nuclear threat
3. On Iran Negotiations

1. On Using American Forces In Iraq To Blunt Iranian Threat.

In today’s NPR debate, Sen. Obama criticized re-structuring our forces in Iraq to blunt Iran’s influence on the war:

There was another problem with it, the resolution that was we haven’t spoken about and that was that it suggested that we should structure in some way our forces in Iraq with the goal of blunting Iranian influence in Iraq- now this is a problem on a whole bunch of fronts but number one- the reason that Iran has been strengthened was because of this misguided war in Iraq. We installed- helped to elect- a government in Iraq that we knew had connections with Iran- and so the notion somehow that they’re not going to have influence and we may be using yet another justification for a continuing mission in Iraq- I think is an extreme problem and one of the reasons why this was a bad idea.

A year ago, Sen. Obama said we should keep forces in Iraq to 'send a clear message' to Iran:

A reduced but active presence (in Iraq) will also send a clear message to hostile countries like Iran and Syria that we intend to remain a key player in this region…Make no mistake, if the Iranians and Syrians think they can use Iraq as another Afghanistan or a staging area from which to attack Israel or other countries, they are badly mistaken. It is in our national interest to prevent this from happening.

http://www.barackobama.com/2006/11/20/a_way_forward_in_iraq.php

The Obama campaign links to a transcript from Tim Russert where he says he supported leaving troops in Iraq to blunt the power of Iran as a way to protect Israel. This transcript only further illustrates that he has shifted positions on this issue.

The Obama campaign links to a transcript from Tim Russert where he says he supported leaving troops in Iraq to blunt the power of Iran as a way to protect Israel. This transcript only further illustrates that he has shifted positions on this issue.

2. On Iran’s nuclear threat

In September 2004, Sen. Obama suggested to the Chicago Tribune editorial board that he would use surgical missile strikes against Iran's nuclear program:

The United States should not rule out military strikes to destroy nuclear production sites in Iran, Obama said. 'The big question is going to be, if Iran is resistant to these pressures, including economic sanctions, which I hope will be imposed if they do not cooperate, at what point are we going to, if any, are we going to take military action?" Obama asked. Given the continuing war in Iraq, the United States is not in a position to invade Iran, but missile strikes might be a viable option, he said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0409250111sep25,1,4555304.story

3. On Iran Negotiations

At the NPR debate, Sen. Obama said he would lead high-level Presidential diplomatic efforts with Iran:

(Bush Administration) should have stopped the saber rattling- should never have started it- and they need now to aggressively move on the diplomatic front- I’ve started that consistently since the beginning of this campaign and that is for the President to lead diplomatic efforts to try to the prospect of joining the World Trade Organization the prospect of overtime in exchange for behavior that is something that has to be perused.

But in an interview with Harretz Daily Newspaper in May 2007, Sen. Obama said he would only pursue ‘low-level talks’ with Iran and said high level talks would be inappropriate:

I asked whether the U.S. should talk with Tehran even as the centrifuges are still spinning and producing more enriched uranium. Obama's answer is both yes and no: "Its important to have low-level talks" with Iran even without them freezing the enrichment, he said. However, high-level talks "will not be appropriate without some sense of progress" on the enrichment issue.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=860406&contrassID=25&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=1&listSrc=Y&art=1

(fact hub)

[BenDavid]

1. Obama co-sponsored a bill in APRIL 2007 to name the

Iran revolutionary guard a terrorist organization or group.....Now all this chest thumping cause HRC voted for it in October....

Is this one of those I was for it before I was against it.....

[AtomicKitten]

2. Hillary is the ONLY Democratic candidate to vote YES on K-L.

Keep on spinning that factoid that won't go away.