Defense Secretary: All Options Open In Dealing With Iran

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
FNC
April 22, 2008
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the United States should keep its military options open in dealing with Iran. Gates spoke in the strongest words he has yet used about Iran during an address to West Point cadets Monday night.
National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin is live at the Pentagon with the story. Hi, Jennifer.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN: Hi, Brit. Well, Secretary Gates is a man who weighs his words carefully, so when he said last night, quote, “Iran is hell-bent on,” in his opinion, in acquiring nuclear weapons and that the military option should remain on the table, it got a lot of attention here. It was a message that was echoed by Admiral Mike Mullen when he spoke last night at an awards dinner for the Atlantic Council.
ADM. MIKE MULLEN [Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chairman]:I think for the ability to create stability in that part of the world that not just this alliance, but those who are allied will have to deal with Iran in the very near future.
GRIFFIN: The strongest words the chairman of the Joint Chiefs has yet to use with regards to Iran according to an aide. At the dinner, those being presented awards commented on NATO’s shortcomings.
MULLEN: Afghanistan is certainly front and center for all of us – this alliance, in particular. And I believe in many ways, as goes Afghanistan, so goes NATO. Afghanistan is a place where we are not doing everything we should.
RUPERT MURDOCH [News Corp Founder/Chairman]: Europe has no longer – has either the political will or the social culture to support military engagements in defense of itself and its allies. However strong NATO may be on paper, this fact makes NATO weak in practice, and it means that reform will not come from within.
GRIFFIN: News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, the head of Fox News’ parent company, called for NATO to expand to include Israel, Japan, and Australia.
Earlier at West Point, Gates expressed his own frustration with NATO, quote, “What do you do when as is the case today with NATO and Afghanistan, some of your allies don’t want to fight? Or they impose caveats on where, when and how their forces may be used? Or their defense budgets are too small as a share of national wealth to provide a substantial contribution? Not counting the United States,” Gates said, “NATO has more than two million men and women in uniform, yet we struggle to sustain the deployment of less than 30,000 non-U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and are forced to scrounge, hat in hand, to replace a few helicopters.”
Brit, Gates was referring to the frustration that many U.S. commanders feel. They say that they need 7,000 more combat troops for Afghanistan, but when NATO met in Europe recently, they were only offered 2,000 more troops and that was cobbled together with the help of six nations. Brit?
HUME: Well, Jennifer, one other area. What about Basra? We heard a lot about that a few weeks ago when there was fighting down there. It appeared in the eyes of many there have been a defeat for the Iraqi government and military. What’s happening now?
GRIFFIN: Well, that’s right. The media reported at that time that it was something that Prime Minister Maliki had lost political capital on and that Muqtada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric, had gained political capital. Well, that does not seem to be the case three weeks later.
I just spoke to a major in the British army. He is serving alongside the Iraqi troops down there and he said that, in fact, Iraqi armed forces are now in control of almost every part of Basra, including the ports and that there is no major fighting. The major fighting took place around March 24th when Maliki sent his forces in, but it’s mostly quiet. There are some skirmishes, and he said that the sense of confidence among the Iraqi armed forces is palpable and that the sense of confidence that the people of Basra have in the armed forces is also palpable. He said that, in fact, they had found about 50 large arms caches and that many of the cartoons are now showing Maliki as the winner in that battle against Sadr. Brit?
HUME: Remarkable, Jennifer, thanks very much.
 
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