Iran's Missile Tests Divide Obama, McCain

Obama Calls For Direct Diplomacy With Tehran; McCain Says Tests Show Need For Missile Defense

(CBS/AP)  Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that Iran's missile tests highlight the need for direct diplomacy as well as tougher threats of economic sanctions and strong incentives to persuade Tehran to change its behavior.

John McCain, the Republican seeking the presidency, said the tests demonstrate a need for effective missile defense, including missile defense in Europe and the defense system the U.S. plans with the Czech Republic and Poland.

In an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric to be broadcast Wednesday night, McCain said, "This is part of a calculated plan-developing nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. And nations led by all of our European friends as well as other countries-we have to impose meaningful, tough, effective sanctions on the Iranians to modify their behavior. We cannot ever allow a second Holocaust." (Watch the video)

Obama has been criticized by Republicans for being too eager to engage enemies of the U.S. in talks. Asked how he would respond to the missile tests if he were president, Obama said he would confer with his national security team to find out whether "this indicates any new capabilities on Iran's part."

"At this point, the report is unclear, it's still early," Obama said on CBS News' The Early Show. "What this underscores is the need for ... a clear policy that is putting the burden on Iran to change behavior. And frankly, we just have not been able to do that the last several years, partly because we're not engaged in direct diplomacy." (Watch the video)

Obama said he continued to favor an incentive package that is aimed at getting Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions.

Iran's state-run television reported Wednesday that the government had tested nine long- and medium-range missiles, including a new version of the Shahab-3 missile that has a range of 1,250 miles and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead. A missile with that range could strike Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan or Pakistan.

An Iranian military official said the missile tests would show Iran's enemies its "resolve and might." In June, Israel conducted military exercises largely seen as a potential test for a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.

McCain said Iran's missile tests "demonstrate again the dangers it poses to its neighbors and to the wider region, especially Israel."

"Ballistic missile testing coupled with Iran's continued refusal to cease its nuclear activities should unite the international community in efforts to counter Iran's dangerous ambitions," McCain said.

Obama, while calling Iran a threat, criticized the Bush administration for using bellicose language against the Iranian government while increasing exports to the country.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that U.S. exports to Iran grew more than tenfold under President Bush in spite of his criticism of its government as a sponsor of terrorism and warnings against any efforts to develop a nuclear weapon.

"It's that kind of mixed signal that has led to the kind of situation that we're in right now," Obama said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

"We've been combining bellicose rhetoric with not very effective action," Obama added on The Early Show. "And that's one of the things I'd like to change when I'm president."

[juwboy]

GreatDriveW:

When Hitler came to powwer, his first act was the elimination of his political opponents -- Socialists, Marxists, Communists, labor leaders and other left-wingers.

Next he turned his attention to the group he considered the greatest threat to his glorious German nation.

It wasn''t the Jews.

Or the Gipsies.

Or homosexuals.

The next priority on Hitler''s list was the mentally-retarded and feeble-minded.

Idiots, imbeciles, half-wits, simpletons, morons and cretins.

People just like you, GreatDriveW!!!

[cmp271]

WAKE UP AMERICA!! This is only an issue if you let it be one. Why are we worried about this anyway?? Ignore them, and they will bluster and bluster until they are tired of being ignored.

WHY STIR UP THE IGNORANT PUBLIC OVER THIS NONSENSE!!

Anyone can tell it is the powers that be who want us to go in and go after Iran for their own agenda, and fiscal gain. We the people lose even more if we do this.
START THINKING FOR YOURSELVES AMERICA!! READ BETWEEN THE LINES!!!

[ariel133]

The Air Force making improvements-

Appropriate and necessary step to improve the Air Force-what more can we say? That America is it!

Either you are with us or against us!

Without the Military we would not be here. I commend & honor those who fight for us and for those support our country.

A War- sometimes is neccessary to keep our FREEDOMS.

God Bless.

[greatdrivew]

Barack has officially become a neo-con, and with each passing day he sounds more and more like Bush. Apparently Obama thinks Bush''s Iran policy is working. Why else would he seek to extend it?

The simple fact of the matter is, Iran has never attacked another nation. Furthermore, whereas the US and Israel are in non-compliance with the Nonproliferation Treaty, Iran is not, and it has a legal right to this nuclear technology. And finally, if you want to point a finger at a group that''s causing all the problems and military posturing in the Middle East, then look no further than the Zionists. But for the Zionists there would be peace it the Middle East. Instead, wants more wars for Israel. Unbelievable, but apparently true.

Wake the f up Obama, you''re heading down the neo-con path of self destruction, and We the People don''t much care if you do it to yourself, We don''t want to be along for your failed ride.

[beaujolie1]

how about mentioning how McCain has flip-flopped on Iraq - he previously said if Iraq did not want us to stay there we should leave; now that they are saying that he has other reasons/excuses why we can''t leave. How come no one is calling him on his obvious flips? He does this on a daily basis. Also, what kind of judgement does he have to sing about bombing Iran and now joke about killing Iranians with American cigarettes? I am sure this is in the ''International Diplomacy'' handbook he has read.

[rgrxx175]

how about we end the war in iraq and then take care of our country!!

[ariel133]

Obama has seemed to move towards the center on a number of highly-charged issues in recent weeks, among them gun control, the intelligence bill known as FISA, and, to some extent, his plan for withdrawing troops from Iraq. Polls suggest that despite the stark differences between dueling advocacy groups over abortion, a middle ground exists should Obama want to seek it out."

NOTHING LIKE THE MEDIA GIVING THIS IDIOT A FREE PASS ON EVERYTHING. I CAN''T WAIT UNTIL HE FALLS FLAT ON HIS FACE. THAT DAY WILL COME. WATCH & SEE

[six-6-seis]

Mcsame is not offering anything new,
Xcept the same tired fearmongering Rhetoric
SHRUB wore out.....

[ariel133]

The AFL-CIO will go up on the air tomorrow in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin with an ad featuring a Vietnam veteran criticizing John McCain on issues related to the Iraq war, veterans and the economy.

A source at the labor federation would only call the buy "significant," saying it would last three weeks.

The new ad is being released in conjuction with the formation of an AFL-CIO Veterans Council. John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, will launch the new group tomorrow in Dayton, Ohio, along with Building & Construction Trades Council Mark Ayers (like McCain, a former Navy aviator) and Jim Wasser, the union member who is featured in the ad. Wasser has also been featured in an AFL mailer and served on a Swift Boat in Vietnam with John Kerry.

There are 2.1 million union veterans and active-duty personnel.

The once great AFL-CIO now become a smear group for the politicians they have bribed, bought and sold. This one is great... tell the country that John McCain does not respect our military ... when the Democratic Congress has been urinating on our military weekly for the past six years. I guess they assume the American public consists of idiots. If this ad works... then they are correct.

[xmanborg]

Iran said today: "We will chase the enemies on the ground and in the sky and we are able react strongly to enemy''s threats in shortest possible time."

Blah, Blah, Blah.

[undermyboot]

So Johnny, 8 years of your Bush/McCain policy toward Iran has resulted in NEGATIVE progress toward pacifying this threat. What is the definition of insanity? "Doing something over and over again expecting a different result."

Go back to your cold war asylum McBush. We do not need your WWIII in Iran. As many of your own friends say, you are too old and too angry to have your finger on the button.