Also check out the list of protests starting tomorrow across Europe in favor of jailed Iranian bloggers (on our website)
The Board of Directors of
the Foundation for Democracy in Iran today released a detailed memo in
opposition to Sen. Chuck Hagel's nomination to become U.S. Secretary of
Defense. The FDI memo includes excerpts from Hagel's own statements on
Iran, and new details of his relationships to the pro-Tehran lobby in
Washington, DC. It also includes new information on Hagel's efforts as a
private citizen in 2009 to lobby the Russian government against joining
a State Department-led effort to step up pressure on Iran.
"Over the past four years, Congress has helped steer the U.S.
administration toward policies that have increased the pressure on the
Islamic regime in Tehran, while expanding on work done by the two
previous administrations to build an international coalition to slow
down the emergence of a nuclear-armed Iranian regime," FDI wrote.
"Chuck Hagel actively opposed these polices of confronting the Islamic
Republic when he was in the U.S. Senate, and has continued to do so
since then...
"At no point has Hagel shown the slightest concern for human rights
abuses, religious liberty, the lack of political freedom, or the threats
made by Islamic Republic leaders to Israel, to Jews worldwide, or to
Americans. Instead, he has publicly stated that the United States should
not seek or promote regime change, merely a change of “behavior” by the
current leadership. This is not just bad policy; given the nature of
the clerical leadership, it’s a call to genocide...
" FDI has never called – and is not calling today – for U.S. military
strikes on Iran. However, for U.S. military power to have any impact on
decision-making in Tehran, the Islamic Republic leadership must believe
in U.S. resolve.
Senator Hagel’s confirmation as Secretary of Defense would send a
message of weakened U.S. resolve to the leaders of the Islamic Republic,
which could serve as an inducement for aggressive behavior.
For these reasons we urge the Senate to reject Senator Hagel’s nomination."
The full statement is attached and available online at http://iran.org/news/2013_01_10-hagel.html
Kenneth R. Timmerman
President and CEO
Foundation for Democracy in Iran
Www.iran.org
Reply to: exec@iran.org
No comments:
Post a Comment