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Monday, June 11, 2007 :
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US senator: Iran strike should be considered
A UNITED States senator last night said his country should consider a military strike against Iran because of the nation’s involvement in Iraq.
Joseph Lieberman said: “I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq.
“And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers.”
The US accuses Iran of fostering terrorism and Tehran’s nuclear ambitions have brought about international reproach.
Speaking on CBS, Lieberman, Democratic nominee for vice president in 2000 who now represents Connecticut as an independent, spoke of Iran’s role in the continued violence in Iraq.
“We’ve said so publicly that the Iranians have a base in Iran at which they are training Iraqis who are coming in and killing Americans. By some estimates, they have killed as many as 200 American soldiers,” Lieberman said. “Well, we can tell them we want them to stop that. But if there’s any hope of the Iranians living according to the international rule of law and stopping, for instance, their nuclear weapons development, we can’t just talk to them.”
He added: “If they don’t play by the rules, we’ve got to use our force, and to me, that would include taking military action to stop them from doing what they’re doing.”
Mr Lieberman said much of the action could probably be done by air, although he would leave the strategy to the generals in charge.
“I want to make clear I’m not talking about a massive ground invasion of Iran.”
“They can’t believe that they have immunity for training and equipping people to come in and kill Americans,” he said. “We cannot let them get away with it. If we do, they’ll take that as a sign of weakness on our part and we will pay for it in Iraq and throughout the region and ultimately right here at home.”
On Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran’s detention of at least four Americans are unwarranted but will not stop Washington from trying to engage Iran on other matters, including its disputed nuclear programme and alleged support of insurgents in Iraq.
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