McCain is right not to talk to Iran

By BJ

Well, at least in the sense that he's the wrong guy to do it, given he apparently doesn't even know who is actually in charge of the place.

The Iranian power structure is a byzantine beast at best, but the tthe guy at the top is Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, rather than the eminently (mis)quotable Ahmadinejad. Given how "serious" a threat McCain and his supporters all tell us Iran is, you would think such a fact might be an important one to learn.

Of course, if all you're planning to do is bomb the place, why bother learning who the real leader is?

Comments

[WWB]

On the other hand, Obama has only mentioned Ahmadinejad, never Khamenei, as a leader he would talk with. Does Khamenei do any negotiations? Who visited the UN this past year?

Besides, Joe Klein's crack research team may be on crack, since they missed the video of Obama standing with the NYC police union and talking about meeting with the president of Iran.

[BJ Bjornson]

Watching part of an interview tonight on CNN, Obama said that he wanted to talk to the people who actually had the power in Iran to do the things America wants them to do, and that that probably wouldn't be Ahmadinejad. He didn't mention Khamenei by name, but any negotiations would probably initially be through Ali Larijani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, which sets Iranian foreign policy, though it is still ultimately answerable to Khamenei.

Khamenei also does meet with foreign leaders, though it's rare and mostly in the Muslim world. He received President Putin last October. Ultimately, if you want real change in Iran's behaviour, Khamenei is the one you have to convince.

Obama's answer could have been better, but it's far better than McCain trying to fall back on the , "Well, if you ask the average American who the leader of Iran is" line, given said American has probably been listening to people like McCain keep telling them that Ahmadinejad is Iran's leader.