Iranian problems

Here's a link to the piece I did last week for Antiwar.com, on the apparently contradictory moves the U.S.is making toward Iran. Some people are absolutely convinced that President Bush is planning an attack in Iran, despite all that has gone wrong in the war on Iraq, but at the same time the U.S. is making open diplomatic oveertures (I'm sure a great deal has gone on in backchannels) for the first time since the hostage-taking in 1978.

Stratfor.com thinks that's because both the U.S. and Iran realize they're not going to get out of Iraq -- a puppet state in Iran's case, a stable democracy in the U.S.'s -- and that they'll have to negotiate a status quo they can both live with for the time being. With the trial balloon about the administration wanting to name the Iranian Revolutionary Guard an official international terrorist organization, it does appear as if the U.S. is seeking confrontation. But there may still be wheels within wheels -- I hope.