ANALYSIS: Talks With Iran Could Help Bush

[kurth]

ANALYSIS: Talks With Iran Could Help Bush
By BARRY SCHWEID, The Associated Press
Saturday, March 18, 2006; 3:49 AM

WASHINGTON -- Possible negotiations between the United States and Iran and the convening of the first session of a new Iraqi parliament could give the Bush administration a long-needed lift. For Bush, whose dive in the polls reflects Americans' eroding confidence in his Iraq strategy, progress on either front would be welcome relief _ especially with midterm elections for control of Congress just eight months away.

< snip >

Bush administration officials are convinced Iran is playing a mischievous role in Iraq, especially in arming militias with explosives and other weapons. They said Friday that Tehran's willingness to have face-to-face discussions with U.S. officials about Iraq could be an effort to divert attention from an approaching confrontation at the United Nations over Iran's nuclear program. "The concern, therefore, is that it is simply a device by the Iranians to try and divert pressure that they're feeling in New York," White House national security adviser Steven Hadley said.

Despite the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, the administration has been seeking talks with Tehran narrowly limited to its intervention in Iraq. Despite its skepticism, some in the administration want to try setting up the talks, at the very least to avoid criticism in case Iran turns out to be serious about seeking a solution in Iraq. Ruled out by U.S. officials is discussion of any attempt by Iran to gain a political foothold in Iraq, and the nuclear dispute, which could soon come before the U.N. Security Council...

The antipathy is immense, however. American officials have denounced Iran repeatedly as the world's No. 1 supporter of terrorism.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/18/AR2006031800329.html

[bemildred]

1. I was trying to figure out what the payload of this soporific drivel was.

And here it is:

Referring to the volatile situation in the country, U.N. envoy Ashraf Qazi said Friday that it has deteriorated since he took up the post 19 months ago.

Qazi, speaking at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, said Iraq was not on the brink of civil war. But he described the situation as serious and said it "could lead to a breakdown of order" if left unchecked.

[standup]

2. I found it: Make peace, not war, with No. 1 supporter of terrorism

[bemildred]

3. I'm afraid that is not in the article.

As for making deals with our so-called enemies, that has long been US government policy. Just ask Ollie North and John Poindexter.

[teryang]

5. Good point.

A breakdown of order is what one expects from the arbitrary exercise of inadequate power. If one were really engaged in diplomacy rather than arbitrary and unprincipled aggression as a foreign policy, our regime wouldn't be limited to the inadequacies of the raw exercise of destructive power which ultimately meets its match.

I'm surprised that none of the so called analysts concerning mideast affairs understand that chaos is an indigenous applied principle in power struggles in Baghdad. Great game faction playing by a poorly informed outsider with a limited time and resource horizon has little chance of success, except to keep the chaos going. It can't even be said at this point that the bush regime even has a license or the ability at this point to do anything definitive about what goes on in Iraq. At some point it will forced out, the longer we stay, the more complete the expulsion.

It is ironic that our regime, which is despotic and unprincipled in its own right, abandoned international law, early on in its belligerent foreign policy and is now limited to the raw exercise of power. It has hamstrung itself. The operation of death squads with the public pretense of obeying human rights and international law (or any system of social mores) had more chance of success (if murder as a policy can be characterized as successful) than what we have done and are doing in Iraq. In other words, the presence of the military there is complete surplusage. However, Iraq is not El Salvador or Nicaragua and won't even yield to this. The Iraqis are the masters of chaos in their own world. We are too far away and too illegitimate to change that.

The notion that we are engaged in dialogue with Iran is laughable. The joke here is that someone assumes that our government is acting in good faith.

[george_hurley]

4. ***PETITION TO SIGN: NO WAR WITH IRAN ***

Hello,

For the past year, the growing tensions mounting between the US, Israel, and Iran are reaching a point where military action against Iran is w/in months of becoming reality. The repercussions are terrifying as such military action could involve countries such as China and Russia as they share massive energy/economic interests w/ Iran. The most likely scenario we would face would be the collapse of the US economy as the combination of a massive rise in oil prices and a run on the US dollar would surely be the weapon many countries would use to fight back against a preemptive US or Israeli strike.

For a collection of articles and resources on this subject you can visit this link: http://reseaudesign.com/research/iran/iran_summery.html

I'm starting up a petition which I will be sending out to as many members of Congress as possible. I'm asking for help to get this signed by as many people, possible in the next month. Send it to as many people you can.

http://www.petitiononline.com/n0war1rn/



Also, here is another petition you can sign from another group:
http://stopwaroniran.org/statement.shtml



Thanks for your time