U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback said the United States should engage Iran
on the “singular issue” of Iraq but continue to vigorously confront the
Islamic republic on its support for terrorism and pursuit of nuclear
weapons. In remarks Wednesday in New York to the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations, the Kansas Republican conceded
that such engagement was unlikely to work with a country that says it is committed to the destruction of Israel. “I call on Iran to
walk away from that statement and to walk away from nuclear weapons,”
said Brownback, who has declared his candidacy for president. Brownback called for
a three-pronged strategy to target Iran politically, economically and
morally. He also expressed support for conditioning aid to the
Palestinian Authority on progress in ridding textbooks and media
of anti-Israel incitement, and for a federal solution in Iraq that
provides a measure of political autonomy to the country’s Sunni, Shia
and Kurdish groups. Brownback is the first in a series of meetings the Presidents Conference is planning with U.S. presidential candidates.
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