Condi Rice, Appeaser

So says Michael Ledeen, Joe Lieberman's #1 fanboy.

Comments

They expect us to leave. They expect the Iranians to stay. And who can say they are wrong?--says Ledeen.

Gosh, do you think that might have something to do with the fact that the Iranians live there, and we live here? Or is our iron-like willpower supposed to overcome such trivial realities?

Posted by rea | June 11, 2007 7:52 AM

Last April Ledeen seemed to be accusing both Rice and Bush of appeasing the Iranians.

http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/michaelledeen/2007/04/25/from_nro_today.php

That's the first thing I found googling 'Ledeen Rice appeaser'. I doubt it's the earliest example that could be found.

Posted by David Tomlin | June 11, 2007 11:39 AM

Look, there's plenty of criticism to be leveled at Democrats for refusing to take Ahmadhi-Nejad and the Revolutionary Guards Corps' Bomb Project seriously. The tone of Democratic criticism has almost invariably been a paralell with the fatous search for Moderates in the Kremlin practiced by liberal Democrats as far back as the Stalin/Beria era. This is compounded by the fact that Iranian fascists get away with highway robbery while Democrats are distracted by their hatred for Bush. None of these shortcomings can excuse Ledeen, however, whose lack of understanding of basic statecraft isn't overcome by his enthusiasm for Regime Change.

Ledeen's problem is twofold: he is hideously close to the Iranian exile community and the "faster please" crowd and he has no sense of diplomacy. If Condi Rice perceives that there are those factions in Iran that may have the upper hand and are amenable to a settlement with the United States, it does no good to tar her with the Chamberlain brush just to make a splash on the masthead of "The Corner" and look all butch in front of Goldberg and K.O..

As a conservative, it's kind of embarrassing to watch the "Last Throes" of the Dead End Kids who lost a policy fight when they can't quite see that Condi isn't the Appeaser they claim she is. What's really getting their goat is that Condi doesn't talk to them, and that pisses them off, so they claim that Rice is selling out the Jews to the Persian Fuhrer or Jed Babbin starts agitating for a Rumsfeld/Bolton ticket. It gets old after awhile. Serious Republicans aren't listening to these people.

What are serious Republicans doing? Well, like Condi, they're listening to Kissinger, and giving the Iranians the "Cause or Nation" choice. Everything in Rice's diplomacy is predicted on that, and if there is to be war, the Iranians will make the first overt hostile act, like the Japanese before them.

Just in case, we began joint Air Combat Manuevers with the Israelis yesterday.

Despite what liberals think, Rice is a keen student of history. Fascists make the same mistakes twice. She's hoping for a diplomatic solution. But if there's not one to be had, they'll find a way to attack. Which would be the greatest of tragedies; among the Islamic peoples, the Persians were the most willing to be our friends.

Posted by section9 | June 11, 2007 11:45 PM