[Vision2020] Talk to Them

[Tom Hansen]

>From Bob Schieffer's commentary on today's (July 30, 2006) "Face the Nation"
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Talk to Them
By Bob Schieffer

Here's my question about the events of last week. Why aren't we talking to
Syria? 

The answer to that, we are told, is for the same reason we don't talk to
Iran and North Korea lately: to talk now would be a reward for bad behavior.


And there is no question Syria has been guilty of some bad behavior. As have
Iran and North Korea. I can't think of much to admire about the leaders of
any of those countries. 

But we stayed in touch with the leaders of the Soviet Union through the long
and dangerous decades of the Cold War. It would have been dangerous not to.
But these days we seem to find more and more people not to talk to. Then
when we need to talk, we can't for fear of rewarding bad behavior. 

The truth is it would be difficult if not impossible for Iran to funnel
weapons to the Lebanese terrorists without Syria's help. If we could drive a
wedge between Syria and Iran, Israel and Lebanon would be safer places. 

But how do you do that without talking? 

No power on earth, Israel or us -- even if we wanted to -- could kill every
Arab who wants to destroy Israel. There are just too many of them. That
leaves but one option: convince countries like Syria that it is in its own
self-interest to take another approach. 

Simplistic? Hardly. It worked with Egypt, once a far greater threat to
Israel than a small poor country like Syria could ever be. 

America's Middle East policy needs to be broader and more complex than just
after-the-fact crisis intervention. We should be talking on a daily basis to
any and all who want to talk.

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Let's talk while these countries are willing to listen.  Nobody alive can
afford the alternative.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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"Seldom, if ever, has a war ended leaving the victors with such a sense of
uncertainty and fear -- with such a realization that the future is obscure
and that survival is not assured."

- Edward R. Murrow

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