Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
You don't think that talking to the Iranians right now, and appealing to them for help, is going to make it more difficult for us to convince them to discontinue their pursuit of nuclear weapons?
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(a) Not at all. Talking to them gives us a direct line on what they are thinking and what they want -- whether or not we can agree or are willing to give it to them. (Just like with litigation or deals, you have to be willing to allow negotiations to fail.)
(b) We really, really could use their cooperation in Iraq, and yes, they now do sort of have us over a barrel in some respects.
That is a big problem for us which I'm not sure how to resolve -- a by-product of the "Fuck everyone (at the same time)" foreign policy style of the first Bush Administration and the mishandling of Iraq.
See, some folks love to shit-talk, but that makes it a little tough to come back around later and try to work things out.
S_A_M
