Nancy Pelosi Requires Bush to Go to Congress Before Attacking Iran, Hawkish Hillary Clinton Threatens With All the Options on the Table

U.S. House Speaker: No military action in Iran without Congress approval

www.chinaview.cn 2007-10-15 01:13:38 Print

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) --

President George W. Bush's government should not take military actions in Iran without Congress approval unless Iran attacks the United States first, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday.

In an interview with ABC News, Pelosi said that if the United States and its people are attacked, the president has "very strong powers to go after the country," otherwise, "he must come to the Congress."

"We don't believe that any authorities that the president has would give him the ability to go in without an act of Congress," she said.

Despite U.S. concerns over Iran's nuclear programs and suspects on its relations with Iraqi militants, Bush said earlier this month that the United States will still resort to diplomatic methods to resolve the nuclear issues with Iran while keep all its options open.

Pelosi said that Bush's government had not requested any congressional authority to take military actions in the country.

The Senate passed a resolution last month to urge the government to "combat, contain, and roll back" Iran's "violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq," which was followed by passage of a similar measure in the House.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

Clinton: All options must be on table to deal with Iran

www.chinaview.cn 2007-10-16 04:51:36 Print

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) --

All options must be taken into consideration should "Iran does not comply with nuclear nonproliferation requirements," U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Monday.

Clinton said in an article written for Foreign Affairs magazine that diplomatic talks should not be ruled out since "true statesmanship requires that we engage with our adversaries, not for the sake of talking but because robust diplomacy is prerequisite to achieving our aims."

She also proposed that incentives can be offered if Teheran "ends its nuclear weapons ambitions, renounces sponsorship of terrorism, supports Middle East peace and plays a constructive role in stabilizing Iraq."

But all options must remain on the table "if Iran does not comply with its own commitments and the will of the international community," she warned.

Citing the long-term strategic challenge Iran posed to the United States and its allies, Clinton accused the Bush administration of being negligent in dealing with the country.

Despite being accused by the United States and its European allies of pursuing nuclear weapons, Teheran has been insisting that its nuclear programs are for peaceful purposes.

Clinton's national security director, Lee Feinstein, earlier told reporters that the former First Lady would be focusing on diplomatic methods instead of military actions to solve the nuclear standoff with Iran should she be elected president in November 2008.

However, the Democratic presidential hopeful leading the national polls has been under fire from her opponents Barack Obama and John Edwards after she voted for a Senate resolution recommending the State Department to list Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, a move they argued could facilitate the Bush administration to take military actions against Iran.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

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