U.S., Iran: Mutually Assured 'Respect'

U.S., Iran: Mutually Assured 'Respect'



By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Tuesday, February 10, 2009 4:20 PM PT

War On Terror: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Tehran will talk directly to the U.S., but only "in a climate of equality and mutual respect." Will the "respect" Iran craves arrive via Israeli F-15s?

Speaking Tuesday to a massive rally in Tehran commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamist revolution, Ahmadinejad echoed a term used by President Obama in his press conference Monday night — "mutual respect."

Citing what he called the Obama administration's wish "to produce change and pursue the course of dialogue," Ahmadinejad told the crowds that "it is clear the Iranian nation welcomes real changes and is ready for dialogue in a climate of equality and mutual respect."

Obama seemed to be using a carrot-and-stick approach in the message he sent Iran.

"Iran is a country that has extraordinary people, extraordinary history and traditions," he said at the White House event, but he was quick to add that "its actions over many years now have been unhelpful when it comes to promoting peace and prosperity both in the region and around the world."

He noted Tehran's "financing of terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas, the bellicose language that they've used towards Israel," and what the president called "their development of a nuclear weapon or their pursuit of a nuclear weapon."

Those factors, according to President Obama, mean "the possibility of destabilizing the region and are not only contrary to our interests, but I think are contrary to the interests of international peace."

Faced with that, the president said he intends to "take an approach with Iran that employs all of the resources at the United States' disposal, and that includes diplomacy."

He said, "my national security team is currently reviewing our existing Iran policy, looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue, where we can directly engage with them."

In that context, according to the president, the U.S. "will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table, face-to-face diplomatic overtures that will allow us to move our policy in a new direction." But because of "a lot of mistrust built up over the years," it's "not going to happen overnight."

Still, he said "there's the possibility at least of a relationship of mutual respect and progress." And he added that "now it's time for Iran to send some signals that it wants to act differently . . ."

Iran sent that signal within 24 hours, using the president's exact language, "mutual respect."

What exactly does it mean? Does it mean that the same charisma that wooed so many American voters during last year's campaign has now mesmerized Tehran's mullahs?

As they watched the president's press conference, did a beam of light come down upon Madman Mahmoud and his associates, causing them to experience an epiphany? Are they all now saying to themselves, "we have to cooperate with Barack"?

Considering the extraordinary duplicity that Iran has practiced against the U.S. over the years, that is highly doubtful.

How respectful was it to hold 53 American hostages for 444 days during the Carter administration? How respectful of the U.S. was it to demand hundreds of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles for each of the seven American kidnap victims being held by the Iranian-financed Hezbollah during the Reagan administration — then increase their demands over and over for years, delaying their release and resulting finally in two of the hostages being murdered?

Barack Obama doesn't appear to be the naif that Jimmy Carter was. Carter, recall, was shocked upon discovering that the Soviet Union was lying to him at the negotiating table.

There are, however, some disturbing Carteresque signals now being sent out. Praising Iran for its "extraordinary" attributes, for instance, and requesting "mutual respect," smacks of the kind of moral equivalence with which the American left viewed the U.S. and U.S.S.R.

Whether it is Tzipi Livni or Bibi Netanyahu who becomes the next Israeli prime minister, it may not be U.S.-Iran talks that bring Tehran's nuclear program to an end.

Israel being Israel, the Jewish state's idea of respect for Iran may come special delivery, via a bomb bay.