February 1st, 2012
08:55 AM ET
Morning Briefing: February 1, 2012 The 1600 Report's daily roundup of what the White House is reading this morning online and in the papers: Iran willing to attack on U.S. soil (WashPost) Impass at UN on Syria violence (BCC) Romney claims victory in Florida, builds new momentum (CNN) Facebook readies for blockbuster IPO (CNNMoney) Jackpot everyone's a winner, almost (NYT) |
  |
 |
|||
|
|
|
||||
In fact it was quite frustrating to lesitn to Charlie Rose when he continuously asked the Iranian President how can you make the world comfortable that you don't have any intentions of developing a nuclear bomb. Ahmadinejad provided examples: (1) all of our nuclear facilities are under the watchful eyes of the IAEA cameras 24/7; (2) There has been no report by the IAEA to demonstrate that we have diverted material toward a nuclear weapons program; (3) we are in full compliance with the NPT provisions. It didn't matter what the Iranian President said, Rose kept insisting. Can any country prove a negative? Ahmadinejad also corrected Rose about who is the world ? That's our problem with you, we have a disagreement on this definition . The world does not constitute the U.S. and several of its allies. The media has done a good job of demonizing Ahmadinejad. The point is while Iran wants a relationship with the U.S. various interest groups in the U.S. Administration and those working behind the scenes (we can all guess who they are) are working hard to prevent a rapprochement. Ahmadinejad is pretty astute to understand this is a political game used for political purposes. Unfortunately, it seems that not much has changed in our actual policies from that of the Bush Admin. We have repeated the word engagement over and over again as if it has been a fact. There has been no engagement and definitely no desire to engage in one.