U.S. Talks With Iran: Is War Still in the Air?

Yes. Don't be fooled. The Bush Administration acknowledged that the country cannot be run like Texas when it agreed to have conversations with Iran. It only took them six years. As a national leader, you have to talk to people you hate. Freezing them out is ineffective.

But the Bush Administration is populated with people who don't change their minds and hate new ideas. So their thoughts from twenty years ago, namely, to invade Iraq and then Iran, are still driving their thinking and policy decisions.

It would be wise to watch the news reports and the rhetoric. Recently, an article appeared about Iranian problems with drug smugglers. It was a sympathetic article to Iran and likened their border issues with ours. The appearance of this article can be seen as a signal that the U.S. position towards Iran is open to cooperation. It would be a declaration of "common ground," if you will. The Bush Administration would be feeding the notion that Iran and the U.S. could unite in fighting narcotics trafficking.

How strong would that "common ground" be? Almost illusionary. Iran should not be baited into any conciliatory stance.

Don't be surprised if a sudden reversal of rhetoric occurs, painting Iran as an enemy of the U.S. One would be mistaken to think that any gains in understanding between the U.S. and Iran would preclude manic accusations from our President. That is not the case.

And when the President speaks, he is speaking to his political base. So the reassurance of "don't listen to what I say, watch what I do" would be hollow.

Torture and the U.S. Image

The Iranian diplomat that the U.S. released claims he was tortured. That may or may not be true. What's important is that the claim of torture is so believable to the rest of the world. Our actions as a nation in this Global War on Terror have so besmirched our standing and credibility that any spurious claim will now be given a stage.

Thanks Rumsfeld. Thanks Bush. Thanks Guantanamo, and all the faceless bureaucrats that allowed it to happen.

Iran Captures British Soldiers

What does this mean? After Russia's public pressure for more money, Iran is Ahmadinejad is naturally feeling defensive. The whole ruse that Iran didn't pay the money to Russia for enriched uranium sounds bogus. The Iranians are neither stupid nor crazy. Of course they would pay. And if it was merely an matter of cash, the squeeze for more could have been made privately.

My suspicion is that Russia never intended to hand over the goods to Iran in the first place. They want to manufacture it and export it to other countries, to include Iran.

So that brings us back to the original question: what does this mean? Perhaps the Iranian military is not strongly controlled by Admadinejad. Perhaps a little taste of what we did to them, i.e., capturing the Iranian diplomats, helps set a boundary.

Can we be reasonably sure that the Iranians DON'T want a war with U.S. and Great Britain? Up until now, that has seemed the case. Of course, no one is talking about uranium enrichment now. That's probably the point of all this.

U.S. War With Iran: Watch It, Ahmadinejad!

Look Ahmadinejad, I know you are just thrilled to think that the U.S. isn't going to invade Iran right now. But don't push it too far. Your Foreign Minister was gloating the other day about how the U.S. taxpayer won't tolerate a war with Iran. Well, that's for right now. Never overestimate the American public. Or any public, for that matter.

U.S. War with Iran - We've Got To Stop This War!

It wouldn't be so scary if President Bush listened to people. Even once in a while. One gets the feeling he is acting off of a script he wrote years ago.

Looking to George Bush's example, if I ever think God wanted me to be President, I'd go straight to the psych ward.

Retired generals are refuting Bush claims of Iranian involvement in the Iraq insurgency. Econo-Girl herself was suspicious when all of the intelligence community agreed. Believe me, there is nothing more suspicious than the entire U.S. intelligence community agreeing on something.

It's not just Bush's lying. We can expect that from politicians. It's the cynical use of the same old formula: repeat it often enough, and fake the evidence. I don't think it will work this time.

U.S. War with Iran

It's possible. Econo-Girl has chatted about the possibility before. While Admadinejad is a loudmouth who rarely backs up his words, he better watch it this time. The U.S. may just pick up the fight.

Admadinejad distracts Iranians from internal problems by beating the anti-Zionist drum. He is betting that Bush does not have the political backing to start warring with Iran.

But that's the thing with Bush: he doesn't always do the expected thing. He certainly doesn't listen to all points of view. Doubtless his advisers will tune carefully to Bush's signals to find out what he really wants to hear and then reflect it back to him..

So Ahmadinejad better think again before taunting the tiger. It's a little irrational and in need of restoring its reputation.