Excerpt
On Monday, five former Secretaries of State had an open forum at George Washington University, which is scheduled to be televised this weekend by CNN. At the forum, the five former Secretaries -- Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Colin Powell, Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright -- agreed on one important change in U.S. policy. All said it was time to talk to Iran. Each of the five had their own preferences for how that dialogue would be conducted. But they all said the United States and Iran should engage in direct diplomacy in which all of the issues in dispute would be covered.
John McCain has a different view. He says there is nothing to discuss. Iran's government is abhorrent. The world should ratchet up economic sanctions until Tehran capitulates on its nuclear program by stopping the enrichment of uranium. Stopping Iran's enrichment program is the one thing everyone agrees is necessary -- Democrats, Republicans, Europeans, and even Russia and China. Nobody accepts the idea of an Iran with nuclear weapons. The issue is how to prevent that nightmare scenario from happening. McCain, meanwhile, seems to favor a policy of Bush plus.
For almost five years now, the Bush administration has been trying to get a permanent freeze on Iran's enrichment of uranium. But whether it has chosen unilateral demands, military threats, unilateral economic sanctions, or even multinational action at the United Nations, Washington has failed to stop advanced in Iran's nuclear program. All along, the administration has refused to do what most others countries have done: Offer a direct dialogue with Tehran with no pre-conditions.
John McCain not only agrees with the Bush administration, he has even accused the Bush White House of not acting aggressively enough. Indeed, he has been the clearest about the possible need for military force against Iran, saying in a way no other major politician has, that the only thing worse than using military force against Iran is an Iran with a nuclear weapons capability. This kind of argument for military force is consistent with what McCain has said on the question of using force against North Korea, Iraq, Syria, and others. In the case of all those countries, he has made arguments or proposals indicating that in McCain's world view the use of military force may not be a first resort but it is also not a last resort.
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