State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the visa allowed Khatami to make a private visit that includes giving a speech at Washington's National Cathedral next week and attending a U.N. conference in New York on September 5 and 6.
The Shi'ite Muslim cleric would be the most high-profile Iranian to visit Washington since the United States cut diplomatic ties when 52 Americans were being held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The visit by former Iranian president Khatami who pretended to be a reformer at worst or was simply ineffective as a reformer (by his definition of "reformer") is being savaged by a panel at National Review. It is a betrayal of Iranian people striving for freedom, they say.
Could be. That was my first reaction, too. President Bush may be too dispirited to confront Iran. I don't think this is true, but I worry it might be true.
Or, to quote Slim Pickins in Dr. Strangelove, if the President is good, if he's really good, we've turned this purported reformer into an ally for regime change and are getting him safely to the United States in time for the revolution to begin at home in Iran. And Khatami will conventiently be at the UN in a week or so. If he has been a frustrated reformer, will he get a chance to speak up and prove it?
I know I'm hoping for a lot here from our President after a couple years of expecting action and seeing nothing, but if he's good--if he's really good ...
