Is Senator Biden Sympathetic Towards the Iranian Regime and it's Nuclear Ambitions?

The Atlas Shrugs blog today posted a few eye-opening tidbits about Senator Joe Biden, that offers us a glimpse into this man's eccentricity and his extreme left-wing views, but also gives us some insight into why Barack Obama chose him to be his running mate.

First, there is the following tidbit from an October 2001 article posted in the the New Republic. If you read the article in its entirety, you'll see just how idiosyncratic this man really is. But what's even more troubling than that is the following item:

At the Tuesday-morning meeting with committee staffers, Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: "I'm groping here." Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we're not bent on its destruction. "Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran," Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a How do ya like that? look on his face.

The staffers sit in silence. Finally somebody ventures a response: "I think they'd send it back." Then another aide speaks up delicately: "The thing I would worry about is that it would almost look like a publicity stunt." Still another reminds Biden that an Iranian delegation is in Moscow that very day to discuss a $300 million arms deal with Vladimir Putin that the United States has strongly condemned.

Shocking, indeed, but not all that shocking considering the following revelation, from a February 2005 column in the Boston Globe:

Some believe that nuclear weapons have become an emotional necessity for Iranians.

Senator Joseph Biden said that even if Iran was a full democracy like India, it would want nuclear capability, like India. What the world needed to address was Iran's emotional needs, he said, with a nonaggression pact.

It is any wonder then that Mr. Biden vehemently opposed a Senate resolution, back in September of 2007, designating Iran's Revolutionary guard as a terrorist organization. He clearly believes in Iran's inalienable right to possess nuclear weapons. "Nuclear weapons have become an emotional necessity for Iranians." "Even if Iran was a full democracy like India, it would want nuclear capability, like India," Senator Biden said back in 2005. "What the world needed to address was Iran's emotional needs."

Problem is, Iran isn't a full Democracy. It is a theocratic regime that supports terrorism and poses a dire threat to the entire free world.

Ultimately, you've got to wonder why Senator Biden would want to send a "no strings attached check for $200 million to Iran", why he evinces so much sympathy towards Iran and its desire to procure nuclear weapons and why he was so vehemently opposed to the Senate resolution designating Iran's Revolutionary guard as a terrorist organization?

Well, what do you know? I just noticed a World Net Daily Article from April of 2005 that seems to answer my questions [I still haven't checked to see if WND has written anything about this recently].

Excerpted from World Net Daily:

As WorldNetDaily reported, Biden recently told a columnist the world must address Iran's emotional needs and agree to a nonaggression pact.... "Senator Joseph Biden said that even if Iran was a full democracy like India, it would want nuclear capability, like India. What the world needed to address was Iran's emotional needs, he said, with a nonaggression pact."

The senator's sharp criticism of the Bush administration's Iran policy has been expressed not only in Congress but in meetings with Iranian-Americans sympathetic to the mullah regime and with Iranian officials themselves.

Last year, Biden held a high-level, 90-minute meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, which took place in a lounge in full view of reporters during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The U.S. has had no official relations with Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

IRNA, the state Iranian news agency, reported Biden "stressed the importance of Iran and the role which it can play in the sensitive and volatile region" and said "he hoped the existing problems between the Islamic Republic of Iran and America would be removed someday."

According to the IRNA, "Kharrazi, in turn, said 'the Iranian nation has suffered gravely from the antagonistic steps of the American government... "The report said Kharrazi "stressed that ... American statesmen are required first to change their existing approach and prove their goodwill in order to pave the way for dialogue and diplomatic relations according to mutual respect."...

Biden reportedly told Kharrazi he also is urging his own government to rethink its positions...

"I hope we're all smarter about this, smarter than we've been," Biden said. "I hope our leadership is brighter because if it's not, it's a very dull picture for the region, and for humanity."

In 2002, amid protests from Iranian-Americans, Biden held a fund-raiser in the California home of a prominent lobbyist for the radical mullah regime, during which the senator "delivered a sweeping condemnation" of President Bush's "Axis of Evil" formula.

One Iranian-American activist said, "Getting the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to appear at this event will certainly be seen by the regime in Tehran as a show of support."

Held at the home of Sadegh Namazi-khah, the fund-raiser brought in $30,000 for Biden's re-election to the Senate that year....

The senator said "Iran always wanted to be an ally of the United States and to have good relations with the U.S.," according to Housang Dadgostar, a prominent lawyer. ...

Namazi-khah denied any official contact with the Iranian government, but said he regularly travels to Iran and actively supports "moderates" within the ruling clergy, such as Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.

Namazi-khah and other IMAN board members said Biden's office had asked if they would hold the private fund-raiser after meeting with them at a pro-Tehran gala in New York in December 2001.

That event was sponsored by the American-Iranian Council, a pro-regime group lobbying to lift the trade embargo on Iran.

Read the full article.

My suspicions about Senator Biden have now been validated and all my questions have been answered.

And make no mistake about it, Senator Biden's radical views on Iran did not go unnoticed by Barack Obama. Is it any wonder then that Barack Obama chose this man to be his running mate?

Remember what Senator Obama said at a campaign rally back in May?:

"Iran, Cuba, Venezuela? These countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union! They don't pose any serious threat to us!"

Just a gaffe on Obama's part? A mere slip of the tongue?

I don't think so....