President Obama's desire to open talks with Iran is being presented like it's a novel idea. But in today's Washington Times, Iran expert Ken Timmerman details how the history of U.S. diplomatic initiatives towards Iran actually goes back much further. And it isn't pretty:
One proponent of talks with Iran, Clinton-era ambassador James Dobbins, noted that the "definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting to get different results." And yet, that is precisely what the Obama administration appears poised to do.
The United States has not merely talked to Iran, but has offered Iran's Islamic regime a "grand bargain" on many occasions.
In 1979, Jimmy Carter helped oust the shah and cozied up to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, offering him legitimacy, aid and political support. Mr. Carter was repaid with a terrorist attack on our embassy in Tehran, and a hostage crisis that lasted 444 days and undid his presidency.
Mr. Carter's misguided actions spawned three decades of Islamic terror and countless thousands of victims, inside Iran and around the world.
In the waning days of his administration, Bill Clinton upped the ante of the "grand bargain." Not only did he offer trade and aid and a lifting of sanctions; he sent Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to grovel at the feet of Iranian emissaries, offering nonsensical "apologies" for alleged American sins in days past.
The response was a crackdown on internal dissent, an upsurge in terrorist aid to Hezbollah and Hamas, and a brazen expansion of Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons program, with groundbreaking at massive new facilities in Natanz and Isfahan.
A friend pointed out to me recently that economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation were used against Libya for almost 20 years until Libyan dictator Moamar Qaddafi finally gave up his nuclear weapons program and decided to rejoin the international community. We don't have that same luxury of time with Iran's nuclear program--according to some estimates, they may have the bomb by the end of this year. Tough decisions are going to need to be made by Western (and moderate Arab) leaders, and fairly quickly.