'despite more than a year of talks between the bu$h* administration and Iran' wtf?

[spanone]

ryan crocker: despite more than a year of talks between the Bush administration and Iran over how to calm Shiite-Sunni tensions in Iraq WHAT TALKS?????

revising history via the new york times.....



~snip~ WASHINGTON — Iran is engaging in a proxy war with the United States in Iraq, adopting tactics similar to those it has used to back fighters in Lebanon, the United States ambassador to Iraq said Friday.

The remarks by the ambassador, Ryan C. Crocker, reflected the sharper criticism of Iran by President Bush and his top deputies over the past week, as administration officials have sought to trace many of their troubles in Iraq to Iran.

Mr. Crocker said in an interview that there had been no substantive change in Iranian behavior in Iraq, despite more than a year of talks between the Bush administration and Iran over how to calm Shiite-Sunni tensions in Iraq. He said that the paramilitary branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps was continuing to direct attacks by Shiite militias against American and Iraqi targets, although he offered no direct evidence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/world/middleeast/12policy.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

[madrchsod]

1. when one starts a war without knowing

anything about one`s enemy, one is doomed to failure. the great powers of the west have always failed in the land of the three religions

[asjr]

2. What a surprise. Maybe they

have been using sign language and that is why we have not heard about it before.

[spanone]

3. no challenge from the msm, they just print what they receive, i guess.

[gratuitous]

4. Pretty strong statements

It's a shame there's no direct evidence for them, Ambassador Crocker. While the rubes in the media might be gulled, the American people seem to have seen this trick maybe once too often to be faked out again. Or at least I hope so.

[HuffleClaw]

5. they've met a couple of times

but i wouldn't characterize it as 'more than a year of talks'

[spanone]

6. who met who and when? ? ?

any links?

cheney just mouthed off the other day that we wouldn't talk unless they stopped enriching uranium

[Jennifer C]

7. In May 2007 they talked about security in Iraq

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/28/iran.us.talks/index.html

However, no talks on the nuclear program.

[spanone]

9. well, guess that was about a year ago....now that's diplomacy!!!

thanks for the link.....i don't think a meeting constitutes a year of diplomacy

[jimlup]

8. Which they are entitled to under the NPT

As we all know, Iran is entitled to enrich uranium under the NPT. Cheney obviously wants war since using the NPT to monitor Iran's enrichment program is the best way to avoid it. The neo-cons are truly ignorant. They have this fantasy about controlling the Middle East with direct military power that they can't let go of.

My own opinion is that while they have ignorantly set the course for war - they are not really ready to wage it and so most of the 'signals' we've been seeing lately are just postering. This president is a lame duck and is going to hand the problem off to his successor since he doesn't really know what to do. It'll take the Obama administration most of the next 4 years to just start to undo the damage the neocons have done.

In this analysis, I am assuming a certain level sanity within the current administration that may not really be present.

[PDJane]

10. as I recall it,

this administration has also refused to talk to Iran until they rid themselves of their religious leadership...no talks with a theocracy. No talks until they stop enriching uranium. No talks until they.......

Sounds like a losing game for the Iranians to me.