Look who's talking on Iran

It was probably the perfect timing for the Slate article I wrote about the Democrats and Iran. I had just finished writing it, and the administration announced its intention to participate in multilateral talks with Iran and Syria about Iraq, "a major shift in President Bush's foreign policy." This recent development is only emphasizing the point I was trying to make in Slate: the debate over Iran is more politics than policy. There are no big differences between the parties as it comes to the challenge of Iran. Here are some paragraphs:

It was 2004, and the Democrats were looking for a way to counter the Bush administration's national-security-driven campaign without being perceived as weak. Since Iraq wasn't an option - that was Bush's mess to deal with - and terrorism also seemed problematic in the shadow of 9/11, Iran seemed a logical choice. "They haven't been tough on the issue... they haven't shown a leadership on the primary issue, which is the issue of nuclear weaponry," Sen. John Kerry told the Washington Post. In the first presidential debate, he zeroed in on Iran again and again: "The British, French, and Germans were the ones who initiated an effort without the United States, regrettably, to begin to try to move to curb the nuclear possibilities in Iran," he said.

Now it's three years later, Iran is looming large as the second-most pressing issue on the foreign-policy pile - and is on its way to becoming the first - and Democrats are struggling to find a consistent voice on the issue. You think their Iraq policy is unclear? On Iran it's even fuzzier. The leaders of the party are looking everywhere for a coherent policy, but the one option they won't touch is to officially support the policy most of them prefer: the Bush policy.

Iran is a complicated issue. No magic bullets are to be found. It is also a political minefield for Democrats, who must maneuver between the realization that Iran is a grave challenge that requires serious answers and voters' tendency to get nervous about the mere possibility of yet another conflict in the Middle East. So, for Democrats, it is politically necessary to criticize the administration. But it is also necessary for them to preserve the appearance of toughness and to avoid suggesting a solution that will come back to haunt them down the road.

Their criticism has moved from blaming the Bush team for doing too little to blaming it for doing too much: too much threat, too much bold rhetoric. Practically, though, it comes down to one thing: Is it advisable to talk directly to Iran with no conditions attached?

The pro-dialogue argument is an understandable and obvious one. In fact, it's the only option if you're looking for a solution that hasn't already been tried. Democrats keep calling for coalition-building, but the Bush administration can claim that it has already done that through U.N. Security Council resolutions. The Democrats also keep calling for more diplomacy, but the administration repeats again and again that it is committed to a "diplomatic solution." Since every poll shows that the public will always support "direct dialogue," whatever that means, the Democrats are wise to focus on this option, which also has the benefit of being a recommendation of the Iraq Study Group.

What benefits the Democrats on the issue of engagement is that most people aren't interested in details. No talks are happening - so it must be that the administration doesn't want any. But is that really true? "What we need to do is to engage Iran on the basis of the international community's standard," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week. This standard is "that they need to stop their enrichment and reprocessing capabilities" for the talks to begin. On Monday, David Ignatius reported that this policy will be moderated even further. "The Bush administration has agreed to sit around a negotiating table with official representatives of Iran and Syria next month - as part of a planned regional conference in Baghdad to discuss ways to stabilize Iraq."

Last month, in a speech at an Israeli conference, Edwards sounded much tougher than he usually is on Iran, saying: "Let me be clear: Under no circumstances can Iran be allowed to have nuclear weapons... We need to keep all options on the table. Let me reiterate - all options must remain on the table." Three weeks ago, Sen. Hillary Clinton said that "no option can be taken off the table" and that "we cannot, we should not, we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons."

Can you do that without going to war? Maybe you can, but only if the Iranians eventually cave to international pressure. All these warnings about the possibility of President Bush dragging America into war with Iran run contrary to the repeatedly stated position that "no option [is] off the table." Keeping "all options" available is intended as a threat: If you do not comply with U.N. resolutions, if you're not impressed with sanctions, we might have to use other tools. This is a threat the Democrats are making, not Bush.

The full article in Slate can be read here.