Epiphany: President of CFR Realizes He's an Addled Twit

Dan from New York:

WSJ, Notable & Quotable January 30, 2010

Richard Haass now favors regime change in Iran

Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, in Newsweek's Feb. 1 issue:

In the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration judged incorrectly that Iran was on the verge of revolution and decided that dealing directly with Tehran would provide a lifeline to an evil government soon to be swept away by history's tide. A valuable opportunity to limit Iran's nuclear program may have been lost as a result. The incoming Obama administration reversed this approach and expressed a willingness to talk to Iran without preconditions. . . . And if diplomacy failed, Obama reasoned, it would be easier to build domestic and international support for more robust sanctions. At the time, I agreed with him.

I've changed my mind. The nuclear talks are going nowhere. The Iranians appear intent on developing the means to produce a nuclear weapon; there is no other explanation for the secret uranium-enrichment facility discovered near the holy city of Qum. Fortunately, their nuclear program appears to have hit some technical snags, which puts off the need to decide whether to launch a preventive strike. Instead we should be focusing on another fact: Iran may be closer to profound political change than at any time since the revolution that ousted the shah 30 years ago. . . .

Critics will say promoting regime change will encourage Iranian authorities to tar the opposition as pawns of the West. But the regime is already doing so.

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Now we know what it takes to have a brilliant career in “diplomacy.” Keep "changing mind" from one stupid, failed position to another; carefully avoid the only policies that can actually solve the problems; hope no one notices; cover tracks in Newsweek, et. al.; add to C.V.; build suit and tie collection; collect paychecks.