Iran: We'll Help US Retreat
Ed Morrissey
Iran has decided that it will help the US retreat from Iraq -- as long as we are willing to pay the price. So far, the opening will require us to forego opposition to their nuclear program, but that's only the beginning:
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said Tehran is willing to help the US withdraw from Iraq. But he added that Iran would only assist if the Americans changed their attitude towards Tehran.
The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says Mr Mottaki did not spell out the change of attitude required. But she adds that Iran probably wants the US to drop its insistence that it freeze its nuclear programme before any kind of talks. ...
Speaking in Bahrain, Mr Mottaki said the key issue in solving the problems in Iraq was the withdrawal of foreign forces. "If the United States changes its attitude, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to help this administration," he told a Gulf security conference. ...
The Iranians analyzed the Iraq Security Group report most accurately; it's obviously a proposal for withdrawal and failure. Teheran would love to see this happen, but now sense that they can name their price to help us comprehend our utter defeat against radical Islamists. As long as we're willing to let them build nuclear weapons, they'll let us lose ... and again, that won't be the only concession for their 'cooperation'.
How else should the Iranians view the ISG report? They understand that they have conducted a low-level war against the US since 1979. Their proxies killed over 240 Marines in Lebanon and kidnapped Americans and other Westerners in Beirut, murdered our CIA station chief in the same period -- and the "realists" ended that phase of the war by selling Iran weapons and badly-needed spare parts. Now they have put more effort into killing American soldiers in Iraq by supplying and training their Shi'ite proxies, like Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army -- and the "realists" want to have Iran take part in determining the future of Iraq. ...
Time mag shocker: Iran *hearts* Iraq Study Group
Allahpundit
Surrender offered. Surrender accepted:
Three Iranian sources — a government official and two figures close to government policymakers — tell TIME that Mottaki’s statement is reflective of a solid consensus among the regime’s foreign-policy decision makers that restoring relations with the U.S. is in Iran’s best interests…
Some Iranian leaders and officials, including President Ahmadinejad, also believe that Iran now has the opportunity to deal with Washington from a position of strength, for the first time since the 1979 revolution. The sources say that this assessment is based on a perception that the U.S. is stuck in quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Iran’s influence in the region and throughout the Muslim world is expanding. These officials see further evidence of Iran’s advantage in the difficulties the U.S. continues to encounter in winning support for U.N. tough sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program. The sources say that Iranian officials believe that to open a serious dialogue with the U.S. in these circumstances would significantly enhance Iran’s international prestige and regional influence.
And Baker wants us to play along. To punctuate the point, today Ahmadinejad announced they’re moving ahead with the nuke program. The pressure’s on Bush to talk and they know it, so they’re going to push him as hard as they can to make it as humiliating as possible to do so. Want to chat? Here are 3,000 new centrifuges. Want to negotiate? Here’s a power play to take over Lebanon. “Take the deal,” whisper the Bakerites. “Legitimize it.”
How about the Kurds? Do they want in on this deal too? Hard to say — the ISG never asked them.
The Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani has angrily rejected the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group in the United States and warned of “grave consequences” if there is any delay in deciding the fate of the oil-rich region claimed by his people. ...
