What to do with a nuclear Iran?

[Hax]

It may have made him much more unpopular among Iranians, but the fact is that Iran was not a democratic country, and Bush wasn't referring to Khatami, but to the quasi-dictatorial control of Iran by the theocratic rulers who did support terrorism and so forth.

And yet Khatami was elected. He [Bush] didn't even try communicating with him. I think if there would have been one way of gaining goodwill with the Iranian people is to have had direct one-on-one talks with Mohammad Khatami. And that chance was completely blown.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

And yet Khatami was elected.

Not freely or fairly.

He [Bush] didn't even try communicating with him. I think if there would have been one way of gaining goodwill with the Iranian people is to have had direct one-on-one talks with Mohammad Khatami. And that chance was completely blown.

Really?

The Bush administration has abandoned hopes it can work with President Mohammad Khatami and his reformist allies in the Iranian government and is turning its attention to appealing directly to democracy supporters among the Iranian people, administration officials said.

The policy shift, which scuttles a five-year effort in which the United States tried to explore ways to work with Khatami and encourage a reform agenda in Iran, follows an intensive review within the administration over whether to adopt a harder line toward a government President Bush has labeled part of the "axis of evil."

A senior administration official said Bush has concluded with his senior foreign policy advisers that Khatami and his supporters in the government "are too weak, ineffective and not serious about delivering on their promises" to transform Iranian society. Instead, the official said, "we have made a conscious decision to associate with the aspirations of Iranian people. We will not play, if you like, the factional politics of reform versus hard-line."

It was tried, but abandoned in favour of another strategy.

[Hax]

Not freely or fairly.

Nevertheless, he made it to the position of President. I think by sending a message to Khatami we might have made a huge difference in the long run.

It was tried, but abandoned in favour of another strategy.

Yes, by indirectly calling 74 million people evil. It looks like we're still in the medieval "Either your with us or against us" stage. Well done, people.

After Vietnam, I thought we'd really learned.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Yes, by indirectly calling 74 million people evil. It looks like we're still in the medieval "Either your with us or against us" stage. Well done, people.

It did not. My country was part of an Axis of Evil, and at no point did I think that 80 million of my countrymen were being called evil, directly or indirectly.

[drone]

Don't drop it all on Bush. Clinton should have started talking with Khatami when he was elected, Guardian Council be damned.

The US government, as a whole, has problems letting go of grudges. Think Cuba. I'm amazed we get along with the Vietnamese as well as we do.

[Tellos Athenaios]

The US government, as a whole, has problems letting go of grudges. Think Cuba. I'm amazed we get along with the Vietnamese as well as we do.

Well Vietnam is kind of special. Especially since My Lai; Agent Orange and other such unfortunate decisions; combine it with the facts Vietnam of today is not exactly the Viet Cong and that the US retreated (i.e. abandoned) south Vietnam with the consequences it had. Furthermore mutual economic interest tends to simplify mutual diplomacy.

So all in all there is not really ‘something left’ for the US government to be begrudging the Vietnamese really.