U.S. Under Pressure To Talk to Tehran

[cal04]

Experts From Both Parties Speak Out

The Bush administration is facing pressure both in the United States and overseas to drop its long-standing refusal to talk directly with Iran about its nuclear program, particularly in the wake of the unusual 18-page letter sent this week to President Bush by Iran's president. Foreign policy moderates from both parties have spoken out in recent days, including Sen. Chuck Hagel, a potential GOP presidential candidate; former secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright; former national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger; and former Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross.

All have published sharply worded opinion articles questioning the administration's stance, and Albright was joined in her commentary by five former European foreign ministers who said they were told by Iranian officials in recent months that there is "widespread interest" in holding a dialogue with Washington. Germany is one of the three European Union countries that have jointly held inconclusive talks with Tehran. German officials have made little secret of their belief that diplomacy will not succeed without direct U.S. intervention.

Ruprecht Polenz, the influential chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament and an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, lashed out last Friday against the administration's policy after returning from a two-day visit to Iran. "Washington's refusal to join direct talks with Iran won't make it any easier to achieve a diplomatic solution to the current nuclear dispute," he said.

The administration has dismissed the letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- the first such communication since U.S.-Iranian relations were broken more than a quarter of a century ago -- as not a serious diplomatic overture. "It really was a kind of philosophical and indeed religious attack on U.S. policies," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday on NBC's "Today" show. "There was nothing in it that suggested a way out of the nuclear stalemate." But Albright said yesterday that the letter, despite its invective and religious musings, should be viewed as an opportunity both for a dialogue with Iran and to influence world opinion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051002103.html

[madeline_con]

1. I find Rice's comment interesting...

as if she's grading a term paper. It's not written to her specs, so it's shrugged off?

Where did this group of morans in Washington come from? How can we get them to go back there?!

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Ah what a hole they have dug themselves.

The bush cabal can't normalize relations with Iran. They have spent the last year cranking up the boogeyman meme on Iran. They've sold their wavering base on the next war. They are salivating about the big bombing campaign that is about to get started. Negotiate with the moo-las? I think not.

[AlamoDemoc]

3. WOW! The WP caught up with

what other world newspapers were saying! I guess if certain people in Washington circles speak so loudly, the WP will quote them!

[AlamoDemoc]

4. Sen. Hagel of Nebraska wrote in the Financial Times:

<snip>

"....There will be no lasting solution to the Iranian nuclear threat until the broader interests of Iran, the U.S., the region and the world are addressed."

"....The continued unwillingness of the U.S. to engage Iran will make other states hesitate to support, and possibly oppose, these tougher measures."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051002103.html