Talk to Ahmedinejad?

Yesterday the Bush administration reversed course and offered to negotiate directly with the Iranian government. After nearly 30 years of isolation, and with the Iranian regime closer than ever to deploying nuclear weaponry, it is time to negotiate.

I think there's a better course. There's no purpose in talking to someone like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, whose most recent effort at communication was a 18 page letter/manifesto that was an Islamic version of a Unabomber treatise. I think that the conversation needs to be with the Iranian people. It's difficult to remember, but prior to the arrival of Ayatollah Khomeini and his fellow 13th century aficianados, Iran was the most cosmopolitan (read: Western) nation in the Middle East. The Shah was a despot and did not tolerate challenge to his rule, but he was quite willing to allow Western thinking and influences into his nation. And while nearly three decades have passed, the mullahs have been unable to eradicate the West in their sprawling theocracy. Those who study that matter have long contended that there are the makings of an effective opposition to the mullahs, but they are not well organized and have been put under the thumb of the theocrats. I think that we should be talking to the Iranian people, not the thuggish government that oppresses them. A better world is possible if the mullahs are toppled, and talking to Ahmedinejad confers legitimacy that is undeserved.

Give the Iranian people the voice of America. I don't mean the U.S. Government agency broadcasts. I mean the full measure of our nation, warts and all. Show the people that there is a better world beyond the black-clad bullies that use faith as a truncheon. Show them freedom. Show them George Bush, and John Wayne, and Kanye West, and Madonna, and whoever else you want. Hell, show them Noam Chomsky. But the conversation should be with the Iranian people who yearn for a return to the world, if not the Shah.