Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Hamas, Iran, and the Natives of Pennsylvania: Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

I try to be fair.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama may not view the natives of rural America quite the way I do, judging from his unscripted remarks recently.

On the other hand, while meeting with Jewish community leaders in Philadelphia, Mr. Obama appeared to have a clear grasp of what Hamas and Iran are.

" 'Hamas is not a state. Hamas is a terrorist organization,' Obama said, explaining the distinction. 'They obviously have developed great influence within the Palestinian territories, but they do not control the apparatus of power; they are not legitimately recognized as a state. They do not have a seat in the United Nations. And so I think there is a very clear distinction; not necessarily in terms of some of the odious rhetoric that comes out of Iran’s leadership versus Hamas' leadership. But there is a distinction in terms of their status within the international community.' "

And: "He attempted to clarify Wednesday that he would go into meetings with Iranian leaders with a 'very clear set of objectives and a very clear set of demands.' "

"Among those, he said he would press the country to stop pursuing nuclear weapons, stop funding Hezbollah and Hamas and stop threatening Israel.

" 'My interest in meeting with Iran is practical; it is not based on my assessment of who they are or my judgment about their values, but rather it is a practical assessment in terms of how we can best achieve our ultimate goal, which is an Iran that is not threatening its neighbors, is not threatening Israel, does not possess nuclear weapons, is not funding organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas,' he said." ("Obama Explains Divergent Positions on Hamas, Iran Diplomacy," FOXNews (April 16, 2008))

More about Obama and the aborigines of Pennsylvania, at

No comments:

Unique, innovative candles


Visit us online:
Spiral Light CandleFind a Retailer
Spiral Light Candle Store

Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.