Make Iran an Offer It Might Refuse

There is a young populace in Iran. It would be a good move to seek dialouge and appeal to them. The flip side is Iran backs Hezbollah, it seeks the destruction of Israel, and backs shia militias in Iraq. I say try to talk to them, considering the alternative. The fact they hate A-jad speaks volumes. The US intel services should be all over this. Change can come from within, it just needs a lot of help. The final option is a massive air-strike, and the US will need help hitting all those targets. The EU should be interested, since Iran will be able to hit a European city with a nuclear tipped missle.

I think that both sides have legitmate issues they could bring up. But from my stand point you should deal with people from a position of strength and honor that way if something does happen then everyone understands the consequences and no gray area. I think that most wars occur when one country doesn't understand the other country and the lines of communication aren't open so they assume.

Bill

Mr. Zakaria,
I find it fascinating that any discussion on Iran starts with the basic assumption that they are our eternal adversaries. If we apply the same logic, China would have never been our friend and Kissinger should not have ever talked to them. Post 9/11, Iran helped us in the war against Taleban from the Herat side. It is well known that iran was fighting Taleban much before we did. Once the war was over, rather than rewarding Iran for its help, we dub them as part of axis of evil. Don't you think that we missed a big opportunity to bring Iran or our side? I wonder what Kissinger would have done. And just imagine how easy Iraq war would have been with Iran on our side....

Mr. Zakaria,
I still do not understand why we have to start with the basic assumption that Iran is an adversary. Post 9/11, they helped us in the war on terror by plugging the Herat side of Afghanistan. And lets not forget, they were fighting Taleban much before we did. There was clearly an opportunity to bring Iran on our side post Afghan war in which they clearly helped us. Rarther than rewarding them, we tagged them with the axis of evil. I wonder what Kissinger would have done. There was probably a great opportunity to open up the Iran front and we just wasted it big time.

this is a fair report on how the politics really work in Iran. here in the west, people don't often have a right picture of what's going in Iran. once they knew that you're from Iran they keep saying "oh, how could you live without freedom of speech, freedom of the women,...", I can tell you for certain that Iranian women are far more concerned about their freedom than the women in their surrounding countries. that's why they keep fighting for their rights as opposed to the women in some -apparently- more moderized countries such as turkey. this is almost the case with everything in Iran. Iran has passed more than three major changes (revolution, freedom movement, ..) in the last century. the country is quite dynamic! I'm wondering why anybody hasn't wondered that how come Ahmadinejad could be selected in a country where Khatami - the reformist president- was the president right before him. so I believe that the western countries shouldn't deal with Iran the way they do by ignoring the subtle dynamics of the country.

Jean444-as you can see the Iranian people agree that there needs to be reform from in. Look at ashkan comment and Iranian student who makes and excellent point; We should make sure the country has FREE and FAIR Elections. Your Hatred for America and American policy has made you turn a blind eye to the solution. India must abolish the caste system; it leaves brilliant people in poverty who are unable to realize the American Dream like Fareed Zakaria. Enjoy your Turkey this Christmas Jean444 and try get involved in finding solutions to your porblems. Have you considered Anger Management. Does U.S. Military Superiority bother you that much. Is Your Fear of AMerica giving you nightmares that one day we will annihilate our enemies. DO NOT WORRY AMERICA IS VERY TOLERANT AND WE DO NOT WANT WAR.

The article on Iran by FAREED ZAKRIYA a well thought and with the careful choice of words points out the weaknesses in the Iranian fundamenalistic policies.Yet it has been conciously conivved at that Iranian,s political strategy or policy of the opposition is not differenr from the government as far as The USA is concerned.Present opposition was the former government and its policy was not different from the government.So the point to ponder should be to change the basics of the Iranian politics through the diplomatic chanels.The blunt use of carrot and stick policy would not be effective as it has failed in the past.The best policy may be the give and take policy.There should be some concessions for Iran to make her accept the American proposals.

In europe , i remember they organise a lot of archithects to retify the problem with the site(WTC)and as at now the place is still abandon

Very smart,,, I'm from a student from Tehran. I've seen you on ABC news with George Stephanopoulos. I agree with everything you wrote.

I think, President Khatami is a great person and the reformists are the only politicians that can turn Iran into a modern, democratic and stable country and this is good for firstly,l the Iranian people and secondly, for the world. If the Bush administration really wants to help they should make the Iranian regime stop cheating in the elections.

In the 2004 Iranian parliamentary elections almost all of the reformist candidates were ruled unfit by the Guardian Council of religious leaders. And candidates don't get fair access to the media. Any propositions on how this could be done??!

Very smart,,, I'm from a student from Tehran. I've seen you on ABC news with George Stephanopoulos. I agree with everything you wrote.

I think, President Khatami is a great person and the reformists are the only politicians that can turn Iran into a modern, democratic and stable country and this is good for firstly,l the Iranian people and secondly, for the world. If the Bush administration really wants to help they should make the Iranian regime stop cheating in the elections.

In the 2004 Iranian parliamentary elections almost all of the reformist candidates were ruled unfit by the Guardian Council of religious leaders. And candidates don't get fair access to the media. Any propositions on how this could be done??!

Very smart,,, I'm from a student from Tehran. I've seen you on ABC news with George Stephanopoulos. I agree with everything you wrote.

I think, President Khatami is a great person and the reformists are the only politicians that can turn Iran into a modern, democratic and stable country and this is good for firstly,l the Iranian people and secondly, for the world. If the Bush administration really wants to help they should make the Iranian regime stop cheating in the elections.

In the 2004 Iranian parliamentary elections almost all of the reformist candidates were ruled unfit by the Guardian Council of religious leaders. And candidates don't get fair access to the media. Any propositions on how this could be done??!

Very smart,,, I'm from a student from Tehran. I've seen you on ABC news with George Stephanopoulos. I agree with everything you wrote.

I think, President Khatami is a great person and the reformists are the only politicians that can turn Iran into a modern, democratic and stable country and this is good for firstly,l the Iranian people and secondly, for the world. If the Bush administration really wants to help they should make the Iranian regime stop cheating in the elections.

In the 2004 Iranian parliamentary elections almost all of the reformist candidates were ruled unfit by the Guardian Council of religious leaders. And candidates don't get fair access to the media. Any propositions on how this could be done??!

This is smart. In fact it is too obvious. But for some reasons, it seems that the whole thing is a game and both sides want to keep playing without rendering a solid decision.

eddiewhere: For your record, I think the American people in field of history and politic are very uneducated. You need to read more and be able to make connection to reality. The rule of US in the world is very negative. You support all totalitarian governments in the Middle East and in same time talk about democracy. You use WMD on civilian and attack others for only having them. You have the most corrupted government and you talk about containing it in other countries. You have a stupid and liar president that is like a Saturday night show for others and you want to build new order in world. You think that history started from 9/11 and you don???t have any clue that what is your past. I don???t talk about your racist attitude about African in your country. Only 40 years ago you had an apartheid regime in your country and in the same time you had a big mouth that you freed European. You used nuclear weapon against civilian and even now you don???t apology for it. You are the number one supporter of apartheid regime of Israel and you think people hate you because you support freedom. I don???t talk about your record in South America or Far East. lol

Fareed, thank you for writing this artcile. I hope more of our leaders would listen. The problem is the reason we even care about Iran is not their Nuclear Weapons. Its their oil and gas. Unless there is regime change we don't get to steal it.

Thank you for showing a clear endorsement of Congressman Paul. He clearly is the only one whose campaign would be able to bring about exactly what was talked about. A fantastic endorsement even if they don't say his name

YOUR HATRED FOR AMERICA HAS MADE YOU TURN A BLIND EYE TO THE PROBLEM THAT FACES YOUR PEOPLE., THIS IS WHAT DICTATORS DO IN THE MIDDLE-EAST DEMONIZE THE WEST KEEP THEIR PEOPLE POOR AND PREVENT THE MAJORITY OF THE POPULATION FROM CONTROLLING THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT.. IRANIANS WANT TO LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM. THEY DO NOT WANT TO LIVE IN POVERTY IN FEAR OF HARDLINERS WHO JUST WANT TO DESTROY

Did the Irainian regime get elected by the people? So you support the dictatorship. As mentioned we cannot change your regime for you. If you like living under the dictatorship well that's great. However we both know you are here in America stuffing yourself of TURKEY while your people suffer under a hard-line government. I know the majority of young IRANIANS want change that is a fact. DO YOU THINK OBAMA CAN IMPROVE RELATONIONS WITH YOUR COUNTRY?