Senator Levin: Us Should Unite With Russia to face Iran

Levin was silent on whether the US should bargain away its missile system in Eastern Europe, an interesting development to say the least.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- If the U.S. and Russia set aside their differences on missile defense and began cooperating against Iran they could make a decisive difference in weakening Iran as a missile threat, a leading Senate Democrat said Monday.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told a defense conference that missile defense will be at the center of a new set of security talks between Washington and Moscow and could become ''a positive political tool'' rather than an impediment to better U.S.-Russian relations.

On a negative note its clear Obama's new Arms Control choice at the state department is indifferent to the threat Iran may pose:

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., who is expected to be nominated soon to become the State Department's arms control chief, told the conference that the threat of a future Iranian long-range missile is not sufficient reason to build the U.S. missile defense in Europe as proposed by the Bush administration.

She said it would provide ''little, if any'' protection for countries that are vulnerable to Iran's existing arsenal of short- and medium-range missiles, which she described as the largest in the Middle East. Iran is ''a ways away'' from acquiring longer-range missiles that could hit the U.S. and Europe, she said.