US Senators Join Chorus Calling for Direct US-Iran Talks

[Iranian Monitor]

Besides these US Senators, over the weekend we had calls for such negotiations from the Pope, the UN Secretary General, and a host of world leaders, pundits and commentators.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-briefs17apr17,1,4206137.story?coll=la-news-a_section

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and three Democratic colleagues called for direct U.S. talks with Iran to defuse political tension about its nuclear capability and address global concerns about energy supplies.

"I think that would be useful," said Lugar, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "We need to make headway diplomatically. Maybe we need to focus our attention less right now" on nuclear issues, considering that Iran is the world's No. 2 holder of gas and oil reserves.

Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut also endorsed talks.

[ForeverRed]

See, this is actually a much better idea, but I don't really see the Administration coming through with it.

Lugar better watch it, you don't suggest something like that as a Republican. :D

[Scarecrow]

Well while Iran and its puppet are calling for annihilation of Israel, the US leaders are calling for peace and negotiation.

[AsanoAram]

Well while Iran and its puppet are calling for annihilation of Israel, the US leaders are calling for peace and negotiation.

Well besides the usual bullshit rhetoric, that deep down most of us know is nothing more than garbage, and that it will never be acted upon, Iran has been asking for direct negotiations for more than a year now. And don't think Iran and USA have not met over the past few years. There have been many formal meetings (although mostly about Iraq and Afghanistan) and many secret ones, dealing with all sorts of topics.

[Coach_McGuirk]

On my block we had calls to "release the dogs of war".

And anything Dianne Feinstein endorses is generally a bad idea.

[Iranian Monitor]

On my block we had calls to "release the dogs of war".

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_Iran_No_Good_Options.html

Newsview: U.S. on the spot with Iran

WASHINGTON -- President Bush bats away talk of bombing Iran's disputed nuclear sites as "wild speculation." But plodding diplomacy hasn't borne fruit so far, and the administration is facing a hard truth: There may be no way to stop Iran from getting the bomb.
...
All the options are pretty unattractive right now except for continuing to talk," said Mitchell Reiss, former director of policy and planning at the State Department under President Bush.
...
Privately, some current and former administration officials say they concluded long ago that the United States had little chance of stopping Iran on its own and only a slim hope that even the kind of concerted international effort now under way could succeed.
...
Republicans on Capitol Hill have been saying for months that the administration may be too quick to discount a military strike. But several recent technical assessments say a strike might only buy time by destroying apparatus but not the expertise to rebuild it.
...
Meanwhile, last week's report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies is sobering.

"One thing was already clear long before these Iranian claims," authors Anthony Cordesman and Khalid al-Rodhan wrote. "There was nothing the U.N. or U.S. could do to deny Iran the technology to build a nuclear weapon....


And anything Dianne Feinstein endorses is generally a bad idea.

I am no fan of Feinstein, but as the Chinese proverb goes: Even a broken clock is right twice a day. In her case, given her close ties with Aipac, her statement is also important because it shows that the "Israeli lobby" is split on how to deal with Iran. A few crazies have been pushing for a confrontational course, the middle ground has been for the Israeli lobby to maintain pressure on the misguided policy of advocating sanctions and isolation of Iran, while more realistic assessments realize that negotiations between Iran and the US are in everyone's interests.