squashed:

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?

OK, here are some more reasons why the U.S. should not talk directly with Iran: to quote John McCain, “It enhances prestige of a nation that is terrorist sponsor and is directly responsible for the deaths of young Americans.” We should not lend legitimacy to a regime funding Hamas, funding Hezbollah and providing weaponry for attacks into Israel, providing weaponry to insurgents in Iraq, having secret dealings with North Korea, maintaining a cozy relationship with Hugo Chavez, threatining to wipe Israel off the map, capturing and humiliating troops of our ally Britain, repeatedly flouting UN demands to halt their pursuit of nuclear weapons, etc. Not to mention that he believes his 2005 five speech to the UN assembly put everyone present in a trance.

I am not a gunslinger on this. I’d much rather we didn’t have to bomb Iran; indeed, I have high hopes for the effect serious economic sanctions could have on the country. But when it comes down to it, we should not negotiate with this nutjob, and we should draw a hard line and stick by it.