Letters to the Editor
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Consideration of alternatives?
joshstrike makes a good point: by offering Iran carrots, are you trading off short term relief for long term pain? Are you giving the child the candy he demands because you're tired of listening to his whining? Are there lessons to be learned from dealings with Iraq vs N. Korea, or is it still too early to tell? It's impossible to tell.
But there are two things to consider:
1) The course of any action should not be determined based upon its own merits, but rather in comparison to alternative options. What is it that we want, and what are the alternative options for getting there? I don't believe that sanctions will slow down the nuclear program, especially because China and Russia, wary of continued US hegemony and unilateralism, are loathe to fully support it.
2) In any confrontation/negotiation, you do best by understanding your counterpart. Any good salesperson or negotiator knows this. I suggest that the US, by not ever even meeting with the Iranians, is ignoring access to data that could help it understand what the Iranians really want. Is it really the destruction of Israel, as most people believe, or is it increased relevance, as Kamiya posits? The information is irrelevant only if you believe that a force-only-option will bring about what we want.
One thing that often seems lost on America's leaders, perhaps because of America's national youth and multi-culteralism, is the importance of subtlety and saving face in many other cultures. I don't see it in Iranian culture to lose face, but in a negotiation, its leaders could weave a story of "apparent victory", even if it gives up concessions.