"Edwards on Iran, Pakistan"

The Caucus (NY Times political blog):

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In a speech today, John Edwards proposed a five-point plan for how to deal with Iran, saying the United States needs to avoid a “preventive” war strategy and instead employ diplomatic and economic measures to capitalize on what he calls the Iranian people’s readiness for change.

The event, at the University of Iowa campus here, was billed as a major foreign policy speech for Mr. Edwards, who is on the second day of a two-day campaign swing through the state, where he is campaigning before the Jan. 3 primary.

He criticized Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for making it easier for the Bush administration to “rattle their sabers” and “build their case for another preventive war” with Iran. He was referring to Mrs. Clinton’s vote on the amendment in the Senate that allowed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to be designated a terrorist organization.

Mr. Edwards drew parallels between the buildup to the Iraq war of 2003 and what he sees taking place now with regard to Iran. Mr. Edwards voted, as Mrs. Clinton did, to authorize President Bush to use force before the Iraq war. He apologized, as he has done before, for that vote and said he had learned a lesson.

“It’s clear that Senator Clinton and I learned very different lessons from the run up to the Iraq war,” he said. “I learned that if you give this president an inch, he will take a mile – and launch a war,” he said.

“Senator Clinton is voting like a hawk in Washington, and talking like a dove in Iowa and New Hampshire,” he said.

He later told reporters that with less than 60 days before the caucus, he wanted to illustrate the choices between himself and Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Edwards called Iran an “extremely dangerous country” that, among other issues, “appears to be trying to produce fuel for a nuclear bomb.”

He said that if it appears Iran is threatening an imminent attack, he would do “what’s necessary” to protect the United States, but that a “powerful arsenal” of diplomatic and economic options have yet to be exhausted.

Under his proposal as president, Mr. Edwards said he would ask his national security adviser to remove President Bush’s explicit endorsement of a preventive war doctrine from national security strategies, and use “force as a last resort.”

The other points include: bolder and more targeted economic sanctions to force Iran’s leaders to realize that their pursuit of nuclear weapons would shut down their economy; enforcing the Iran Sanctions Act that punishes companies that do business with Iran; and using diplomatic measures to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Mr. Edwards also said that the United States should work with Western European countries to strengthen the economic sanctions and prevent Iran from skirting them by going through third parties. The plan includes working with China and Russia, both of which have trade and energy ties with Iran.

Finally, Mr. Edwards proposed negotiations.

“We should begin building a new course of diplomatic relations with Iran by expanding low-level talks between government officials on both sides in a neutral country,” he said.

He also mentioned Pakistan, saying that a longer term solution needed to be implemented on the issue of nuclear weapons.

He said wants to be the president “to lead an international effort with America playing a lead role to rid the planet of nuclear weapons.”

Asked by reporters how he would deal with Pakistan in the current crisis, and whether military aid should be used at this time, he said:

“I think that the leverage that America has with the Pakistani government, with Musharraf now, is the fact that we provide so much economic aid to the Pakistani government. And I think we should use that leverage to push Musharraf toward open free elections; toward more democratic reform, to more transparency in the way both the government operates and the economy operates. But I think the leverage that America has with both Musharraf and the Pakistani government is the economic leverage.”

Asked about military aid at this time, he said “It’s the same thing. Our leverage with Pakistan is the fact that we provide billions of dollars in assistance of all kinds, and we should use that leverage to push Musharraf and the Pakistani government to do the right thing.”

Howie P.S.: The Trail (WaPo political blog) comments, "Waiting For Specifics on Iraq."