Washington Post warmonger David Ignatius says we should talk to Iran, while Washington Post warmonger Charles Krauthammer says we should not.
Ignatius characterizes Iran’s leadership as “extremist mullahs in Tehran who are pushing for nuclear weapons,…which in isolation ha[ve] remained frozen in revolutionary zealotry like an exotic fruit in aspic.”
Whatever. Can’t we chill out with the hot rhetoric, Ignatius? I’m glad you are advocating talks, but please don’t misinform the American public about the nature of Iranian public opinion. Iranians want nuclear weapons as a matter of national prestige and national security. That is true of the religiously conservative mullahs and it is true of the socially liberal student movement. You won’t find any Iranians, pro-American or not, that think it is cool for Israel, India, and Pakistan to have nukes but not Iran. Give it up, Ignatius. Do you want to make war on Iran to prevent them from building a bomb? Do you think such actions will make America safer? Richer? Better respected around the world? Like I said, I am glad that you favor talks. I’d be happier if I didn’t think you were about to panic any moment.
As for Krauthammer, what can I say? I mean, look at the man’s face and it betrays a crooked soul. Charles lives for war. He relishes it. He spends his days fantasizing about new weapons systems and the best ways to kill Persians and Koreans by the tens of thousands. That’s just what makes Chuck want to get up in the morning. The smell of putrescence is an aphrodisiac to Krauthammer. You can tell by his words.
All of a sudden, revolutionary Iran has offered direct talks with the United States. All of a sudden, the usual suspects — European commentators, American liberals, dissident CIA analysts, Madeleine Albright — are urging the administration to take the bait.
It is not rare to see a regime such as Iran’s — despotic, internally weak, feeling the world closing in — attempt so transparent a ploy to relieve pressure on itself. What is rare is to see the craven alacrity with which such a ploy is taken up by others.
Iran
Charles is terrified that the Americans might agree to sit down and have a conversation with the Iranians before we bomb their country into Afghanistanville. What’s the problem? Well, Chuckie thinks if we talk to Persian people, that the Europeans will be off the hook and won’t support the neo-con wet dream of a mass bombing campaign. Of course, Krauthammer says that he is only supporting sanctions on Iran. That’s about as believable as saying Miami Cubans only supported sanctions on Castro. We got a Bay of Pigs and a little missile crisis instead. We know how you operate Krauthammer, and you aren’t fooling anyone. You want war because it makes your dick hard, because you won’t have to fight in it, or pay for it, or do anything but write about it. Let’s bomb Iran. Don’t fucking talk to them. That would be a sign of weakness. Just bomb them. Then Charles will be happy. And Ignatius, too.
Here’s the deal. If we have a consensus within our European and middle eastern allies that Iran should not be allowed to build a nuclear bomb at this time, under this leadership, then we should sit down with the Iranians and do so from a position of strength. If we do not have a consensus with our friends, then we should shut the fuck up and stop the sabre rattling. Iran is at least a decade away from having a nuclear weapon. And if they get one sometime in 2016 they are not going to use it to nuke Israel, or give it to some terrorist. They’ll just be very proud Persians that now have the same toy that their neighbors have. No big deal. You want to minimize the danger to America of Iran having a bomb? Start repairing relations, now. Don’t wait until 2016. Don’t wait for a student led counterrevolution that will never come. And for God’s sake, don’t go bombing their country. That may delay Iran’s nuclear program. But it will make Iran a permanent enemy of the United States. All of its people will oppose us.
Or is that what Charles Krauthammer and his neo-conservative buddies really want?
