March, 24 2009, 03:00pm EDT
Iran Responds to Obama
Obama's unprecedented greeting to Iran is met with an unprecedented response by Grand Ayatollah Khamenei
WASHINGTON
In response to President Obama's address to Iran, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei wonders what has actually changed.
"Has your antagonism to the Iranian nation changed?" he asked.
Even
though President Obama was reaching out to the Iranian people and
complimenting their nation, he did not address any specific changes or
actions that the US is planning to take in their foreign policy.
"If
you read the address... he's stroking the people's feelings of pride
and I'm sure that's going to go over really well with the Iranian
people," said investigate historian and journalist Gareth Porter. "At
the same time there really is nothing in the address that gives you a
clue as to what
change is going to be made in the US posture when they actually sit
down with Iran."
Porter suggests that the real question in Iran is how much influence does the Israeli lobby have over US foreign policy?
"This
is a question that quite frankly people in Washington D.C., analysts,
are asking the same question," Porter said. "Very recently the Israeli
lobby scored a huge victory when they basically put enough pressure on
the White House to cause Chaz Freeman, the nominee for the Head of the
National Intelligence Council, nominated by the Director of National
Intelligence Dennis Blair, to have to back off and withdraw his name
from the position."
For complete coverage of this interview visit our website:
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