Iran

Here's an article that does a good job of summing up where we stand with Iran these days.

I think the vast majority of Iranians just want to go on with their lives and don't give a rat's ass about America as long as we don't make their lives difficult. In fact, I think the majority of Iranians are probably somewhat pro-American and are opposed to the extremist elements of their own government that make their lives difficult.

But, from a geopolitical standpoint, the government of Iran is certainly positioned in opposition to American foreign policy. If you accept the premise that governments have "enemies" in the world, Iran would be one of ours, and has been since at least 1979. This is not to say that I think the concept of "enemies" should necessarily lead to forceful conflict- to the contrary, I think forceful diplomacy is the tool that should be called in most (but not all) of our challenges, particularly in the Middle East.

It's unfortunate that the Bush administration does not value this tool, because I think forceful diplomacy is the only way to successfully deal with Iran right now, and Iran has certainly become our number one concern.

It's also unfortunate that one of the many casualties of Bush's legacy is the value of US intelligence reporting in the eyes of informed Americans and our allies around the world. I have little doubt that there are some serious, nefarious things Iran is up to in Iraq that US intelligence may be able to shed light on, but who's going to take us seriously now?