Tue., March 13, 2007
FM Livni: U.S. must stand firm on Iraq
By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent and AP
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni warned the U.S. yesterday not to show weakness in Iraq, during an address to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Washington.
"In a region where impressions are important, countries must be careful not to demonstrate weakness and surrender to extremists," said Livni.
"If we appease the extremists - if they feel that we are backing down - they will sense victory and become more dangerous not only to the region, but to the world," she said. "This applies to the decisions made on Iran, it is true for Iraq, and it is true across the Middle East."
Livni said Iran was at the forefront of extremist threats to Israel, the greater Middle East and the world in general because of its nuclear ambitions.
"To address extremism is to address Iran," she said, urging tougher UN sanctions over its nuclear program. "It is a regime which denies the Holocaust while threatening the world with a new one."
"To those states who know the threat but still hesitate because of narrow economic or political interests, let me say this: History will remember."
Also addressing AIPAC, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday that an early withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq would lead to disaster and chaos in the Middle East, with either Al-Qaida or Iran emerging dominant from a bloody sectarian battle.
