Kidnapping Iranian diplomats = good diplomacy

Though I disagree with much the Iraq Study Group, perhaps my biggest problem is co-author James Baker's claim that the ISG report is not a "fruit salad." Baker told the Senate Armed Services Committee, "I hope we don't treat this like a fruit salad and say I like this, but I don't like that. I like this, but I don't like that. This is a comprehensive strategy..." I'm sorry, but the ISG is indeed a fruit salad, if I've ever seen one. So allow me to separate the cherries I like from the grapefruit that gives me acid. What I do like is the ISG's recommendation that we should hold direct talks with Iran. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it's always nice to get to new a country before you regime-change and/ or mission-accomplish it. That's just good manners and diplomacy 101. So, last week, when the U.S. military raided Iranian diplomatic offices in Iraq, and detained 6 people, we may have angered the Iranians, Kurds, and Iraqis. But we were only trying to initiate very, very, very direct talks with Iran, in the spirit of the ISG. Walls and doors keep people apart and in knocking them down with bullets and bombs, we forced open new channels for dialogue. By confiscating the Iranian's computers, we wanted to replace cold and alienating electronic communication with intimate exchanges. Once again, however, we were in the words, of our President,misunderstimated.