Just Say No (to Iran)

Charles Krauthammer writes about the misdirection play that Iran is trying to run with their sudden interest in one-on-one talks with the U.S.:

All of a sudden, revolutionary Iran has offered direct talks with the United States. All of a sudden, the usual suspects -- European commentators, American liberals, dissident CIA analysts, Madeleine Albright -- are urging the administration to take the bait.

It is not rare to see a regime like Iran's -- despotic, internally weak, feeling the world closing in -- attempt so transparent a ploy to relieve pressure on itself. What is rare is to see the craven alacrity with which such a ploy is taken up by others.

Mark my words. The momentum for U.S.-Iran negotiations has only begun. The focus of the entire Iranian crisis will begin to shift from the question of whether Tehran will stop its nuclear program to whether Washington will sit down alone at the table with Tehran.

To this cynical bait-and-switch, there can be no American response other than No. Absolutely not.

Isn't it interesting that the same crowd that decried U.S. unilateralism on Iraq suddenly wants unilaterism on Iran. It's nothing more than a diversion designed to buy time for Iran's nuke program.

Read the rest of the article here.