Ledeen writes that we are once again trying to engage the mullahs of Iran:
The delusion that one can settle our little disagreements with the Islamic Republic, if only the right people sit around the right conference table, has seized every administration since Jimmy Carter. Every president has sent emissaries to talk, and every administration has made demarches to Tehran. To date, the net result is hundreds of dead Americans. And yet the delusion persists. Each time it fails, the deep thinkers at Foggy Bottom manage to convince the secretary of State of the moment that we are just one small concession away from success, and by and large the secretary goes for it, just as Secretary Rice has.
I admit that as time goes on, I lose more hope that we have the resolve to stop Iran before a nuclear weapon is used by Iran. If we've done nothing by the time Tony Blair steps down, I think I will finally have to accept that we are willing to absorb the first nuclear blow before we respond. The only question is whether Israel has made the same decision.
The only saving grace to this possible decision is the possibiity that we have time to build anti-missile defenses to intercept that first blow.
Of course, this still doesn't address the general support of terrorism that Tehran engages in or their support for terror inside Iraq.
