A source on politics, war, the Middle East, Arabic poetry, and art.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Sam Husseini quizzes John Edwards. "SH: You also said at that same conference: “once Iran goes nuclear other nations in the Middle East will go nuclear, making Israel’s neighborhood much more volatile.” Senator, doesn’t Israel have nuclear weapons? And doesn’t that create volatility and doesn’t it cause resentment, that’s part one. Doesn’t Israel’s possession cause volatility? And part two: doesn’t the U.S. cause resentment by not acknowledging it? The U.S. government has never acknowledged that Israel has a massive nuclear arsenal — which it does? JE: What I believe, and what I believe most thoughtful people believe, is that Iran having a nuclear weapon and having a proliferation of nuclear weapons throughout the Middle East, because the odds are high that if Iran goes nuclear that the Saudis, will go nuclear, the Egyptians will go nuclear, the Jordanians may go nuclear, is not a good thing in the most volatile region of the world which is way we need to use a thoughtful diplomatic process to deal with this issue in Iran. SH: But you are not acknowledging that Israel has nuclear weapons! Senator, you’re not acknowledging that Israel has nuclear weapons! JE: Excuse me, I can’t hear him. I’m sorry. …" (thaks Sam)