I know, I know, yet another diary on the comments today, but seriously, I have a question that I want these guys to answer. If talking to people who are not behaving in a way that we approve of is "appeasement" of the sort that led to the Nazi invasion of Poland, then why isn't the US committed to a total war effort a la WWII against most of the Middle East?
This is not a hard question to ask or to answer. The answer is obvious to any thinking human being with half a brain, but the comments from Bush and McCain today beg the question: If talking to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the modern equivalent to Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement regarding Hitler and the Nazi governemnt, then why aren't we bombing Iran right now? Why isn't there a call for a declaration of war against Iran? Hello? Bueller? Bueller?
I know I am not the only one to link to Secretary of Defense Bob Gates' call for engagement, but I think it's worth reposting. Just so that the record is clear that at approximately the same time as Bush was criticizing someone, who he would not name, for having the naive and foolish notion to talk to Iran or to other "extremists", his SecDef was openly endorsing that exact policy.
And then we have this gem from Senator John McCain:
Asked if Obama was an appeaser, McCain said Obama must explain why he wants to talk with leaders like Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and added that Obama's position was a serious error. "It shows naiveté and inexperience and lack of judgment to say that he wants to sit down across the table from an individual who leads a country that says Israel is a stinking corpse, that is dedicated to the extinction of the state of Israel. My question is, what does he want to talk about?"
What indeed? What is there to talk about? See I want a reporter to ask McCain that very question. And then follow it up with this one: Does McCain favor an immediate declaration of war by our Congress on the sovereign state of Iran? If talking is so useless, then what are we waiting on? Why hasn't he introduced a war resolution in the Senate to immediately declare war on Iran? Why isn't he actually calling for all out war on Iran? Why isn't he calling, directly, for full scale bombing of North Korea? Why isn't he calling for military strikes on Syria? Why isn't he openly discussing a military presence in the Golan Heights, the West Bank, Gaza, Pakistan, and anywhere else there is activity that we don't like?
I want to hear John McCain answer that question. If talking to those we don't like (and I intentionally do NOT use the word enemy here) is equivalent to the appeasement of Hitler, then why not start a war now? Why isn't he using his position as a US Senator to start the process right now? Put him on the record right now. Ask him if he supports the policy espoused by the Secretary of Defense of more engagement with Iran, including more Americans visiting Iran. I want a direct answer. Because the comments today, with greatest respect to Senator Biden, were bullshit. And it's time that these charlatans were called out on their bullshit.