"Jonathan Powell, who served as Blair's chief of staff from 1995 to 2007 and is widely regarded as having been instrumental in negotiating a settlement in Northern Ireland, said his experience in the province convinced him that it was essential to keep a line of communication open even with one's most bitter enemies." - quote from article linked to headline.
The idea of wiping ones enemy from the face of the Earth may be the only other way of dealing with the Taleban and Al Qaeda. There is no black and white ruling that says that every member is as culpable as Osama bin Laden. In other words there is questionable moral justification setting out to murder every member of the cult just because of the actions of its leaders and its leading henchmen. There is little use if a more vicious generation seeking jihad and revenge for the death of their family then join the cult.
There is a military side that speaks against all this posturing against Iran. Treat them like they have nuclear weapons. Do not invade them, but take up negotiations with them and afford them the respect of knowing them. Hatred between countries is meaningless.
The way for the USA to grow up and out of this need to push others down to feel on top of things is to get around a table and talk. If Iran want to make unreasonable demands or the extremes of Islam want to destroy the West - then we had best seek clarification of their real meaning before killing every single one of them.
I doubt Iran wants very much to be a Nuclear state. It would be a political ace up any leader's sleeve to have recourse to nuclear weapons. Of course the US president is probably advised daily of the danger that they do not really know Iran's intentions. So why not talk with them and find out?
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