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iran has been playing a double game for some time--ahmadinejad remains a politically quite weak president who has used anti=israeli rhetoric to legitimate himself politically for domestic consumption, much in the way that the bush administration used the discourse of "terrorism" to legitimate itself. at the same time, iran has been consistently interested in diplomatic contact with the united states and offered extensive assistance with iraq--which the united states did not avail itself of.
the claims about the nuclear program being diverted to weapons production are contested and in the main quite weak.
it makes little sense not to engage iran.
if ahmadinejad is a problem---and in many ways, he is---such engagement might undermine his position in part by undercutting at least some of the rationale for his rhetorical posturing.
all that and i think it safe to assume that if the bush people, operating within their blinkered and incompetent policy logic, did not think it a good idea to back an israeli raid last year, it ain't happening now.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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