TALKING WITH IRAN

It is obvious that if you want negotiations, you must not approach the other party in a way that prevents it from agreeing to negotiate. Obvious – all too obvious. But politicians taking tough stands find it embarrassing to climb down from them, even when it becomes clear that the tough stand is not working. Iran evidently will not be brought to talks by demanding that it accept conditions that might be difficult for it to accept even in reasonably open-minded talks. Do the people making U. S. policy about talking with Iran imagine that it can awe Iran into accepting such conditions beforehand? Why should Iran fear the United States so much? It could bomb Iran; it could nuke it, but it could not, bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, follow up with boots on the ground. Moreover, Irand could retaliate in devastating ways, against U. S. troops deployed in those two other countries; or against Israel. If the U.S. will not follow the example set by Israel, beginning public comprehensive negotiations with Syria after years of fruitless clamor, let us hope that beneath the public bluster of Bush and McCain, cooler heads are working to create an agenda that Iran would be ready to negotiate.