• Huckabee is in full support of having diplomatic talks with
Iran. According to him the administration should not take the
military option from Iran off the table, nor would Huckabee
himself do it. The military option would become viable only if
the US had exhausted other options.
• According to Mike Huckabee the US is proceeding down a one
way track where Iran is concerned and leading to 'armed
confrontation.'
• Huckabee strongly believes that the negotiations held
recently with Iran in regard to Iraq were narrowly focused and
did not explore the complete range of possibilities.
• Mike Huckabee reiterates that many Iranians are well disposed
towards the US. He provides evidence of this by commenting "we
should remember that on 9/11, while there was dancing in the
street in other parts of the Muslim world, there were candlelight
vigils and mourning in Tehran."
• Huckabee was quoted saying that Iran helped the US during the
first invasion of Afghanistan, especially with the Northern
Alliance.
• Huckabee whole heartedly welcomes the new sanctions against
Iran since no direct business is done between Iran and the US,
hence there will be no impact unless it is honored by other
countries.
• In Huckabee's opinion, if China and Russia do not support the
United Nations sanctions it would remain weak thus creating
greater hope from Iran's biggest trading partner, the European
Union. He feels that Nicholas Sarkozy, the President of France,
would become a willing ally in this attempt.
"Strong countries and strong presidents talk to their
adversaries.
That's what Kennedy did with Krushchev, that's what Reagan did
with Gorbachev, that's what Nixon did with Mao.
I mean, think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuele - these countries
are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious
threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And
yet, we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union, at the time
they were saying we're gonna wipe you off the planet. And
ultimately that direct engagement led to a series of measures
that help prevent nuclear war, and over time, allowed the kind of
opening that brought down the Berlin Wall. Now, that has to be
the kind of approach that we take.
We shouldn't be afraid. You know, Iran spend one hundredth of
what we spend on the military. If Iran ever posed a serious
threat to us, they wouldn't stand a chance. And we should use
that position of strength that we have to be bold enough to go
ahead and listen. That doesn't mean we agree with them on
everything. We might not compromise on any issues. But at least
we should find out are there areas of potential common interest,
and we can reduce some of the tensions that have caused us so
many problems around the world"
