Talk to Iran
Last year, Bush said he was in favor of discussions with Iran but only on how to maintain peace in Iraq. Recently, Iran seemed to indicate that it may be inclined toward talks. Then, today I see this headline in the newspaper: "Some U.S. Officials Fear Iran is Helping Al Qaeda." Could it be that the administration is repeating with Iran the same type of war campaign it pursued with Iraq? NO, NO, NO! It will not work, just as it did not work with Iraq. We must TALK, TALK, TALK to Iran.
Evidently, Aabdelaziz Hakim, of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution, and Jalal Talabani, interim president of Iraq, spoke to Iran about possible talks. Ali Larijani, the foreign policy chief of Iran said this:
"Iraq is our natural ally, and its security is of principal importance to us. Since this has been asked from us by Mr. Hakim, we have agreed to this request to help resolve the issues in Iraq, and to assist with the promotion of an independent and genuinely free Iraq."
There it is - a go-ahead for talks. Why do we quibble openly about what we will discuss? There's no point to it. Let's talk. I believe this could be the opening the U.S. has been waiting for, not only to discuss an independent Iraq, but also Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, and eventually, peace in the entire Middle East.
We talk incessantly with Saudi Arabia, the fountainhead of terrorism. As everybody knows, 14 of 19 terrorist that attacked us on 9/11 were Saudi Arabians. Osama bin Laden is a Saudi Arabian. The new terrorist honsho in Iraq, Zawahiri, is a Saudi Arabian. Saudi Arabia is a vicious dictatorship. It is packed with madrassas that preach hatred of Jews, Christians and the West. It funds madrassas in other Muslim countries and fills the world with anti-West propaganda. We have reason to believe they were behind the violent riots that erupted after European comic strips poked fun at Prophet Mohammad.
We talk to Egypt. We tell them to try democracy. So Mubarak has "elections" with the same results as always. And we compliment him for this.
The only ones we do not talk to are the Iranians. This is ridiculous. Iran is THE big power in the Middle East. Iran is Shia - not quite as death-crazy as the Sunnis that inhabit Saudi Arabia and most of the Arab world. Iran is the product of a long Persian civilization. Though it is not fully democratic, it is more democratic than any other nation in the Middle East except Israel. Ordinary Iranians like Americans - which is more than you can say for people in most other countries in the region.
U.S. has gotten into a stupid tit for tat relationship with Iran. If we want to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program, it is time to talk. If we want peace in the Middle East, it's time to talk. If we want to get out of Iraq, it is time to talk. If we want an Israeli-Palestinian peace, it is time to talk.
You don't make friends and influence people by killing them, or by talking about killing them. You talk. You negotiate. You give and take. You work together toward common goals. And we do have common goals: Iranians want to live as much as we do.
For heaven's sake, let's talk to Iran.
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