Next, please
A post back, I asked people to explain to me why they thought meeting with Iran (as Obama proposes) was a worse idea than the Bush/McCain/Clinton strategy of blustering in the irrational hope that this somehow persuades Iran to do what we want it to. SDS took a shot at it, citing “author and student of Middle Eastern politics” Joel Rosenberg. According to Rosenberg (and Rush Limbaugh), Ahmadenejad believes the annihilation of millions of jews is his life’s purpose. And, according to Rosenberg, his beliefs get crazier from there.
I was a bit hesitant—because I’ve listened to Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric and while he was certainly a hard-liner, he didn’t sound like a religious zealot. So I looked up Rosenberg. By “author,” SDS apparently meant “fiction author,” apparently of the Dan Brown variety. And by “student of Middle Eastern politics,” he means the kind of student without citable laurels. Needless to say, I’m not willing to base a foreign policy on Rosenberg’s fictional conspiracy theories.
So, would anybody else like to take a crack at explaining why we can’t talk to Iran?