Mr. Gates (nominee to be secretary of defense) believes we should hold talks with Iran

Not only is Robert Gates tainted by Iran-Contra, he also believes we should have comprehensive talks with Iran. Who do you think would be doing the talks? You guessed it! Articles on Gates and his attitude on Iran: one, two (Caroline Glick must read), three Please especially take note of the Caroline Glick article, sharp as always. (I am amazed that I was one of the first to post on this, I am like a prophet, hehehe)

In recent years, Gates made one notable foray into the world of international affairs. In 2004 he collaborated with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor in the Carter administration. Like former president Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski is one of Israel's greatest adversaries in US policymaking circles. It is hard to recall a problem, conflict, crisis or war in the Middle East over the past thirty years that Brzezinski has not managed to blame on Israel. Gates and Brzezinski co-chaired a Council on Foreign Relations-sponsored Task Force charged with recommending a US policy for dealing with Iran. In July 2004 they published their recommendations. The Task Force called for the Bush administration to directly engage the mullahs and to use "fewer sticks and more carrots" to convince the regime in Teheran to stop enriching uranium, and to stop supporting al Qaida and the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. In an effort to convince the Iranians to cooperate, the two recommended that the US discard regime overthrow as a policy option and move more forcefully to establish a Palestinian state as quickly as possible. They also recommended that the US pressure Israel not to take any military action against the Iranian nuclear facilities arguing that such Israeli actions would undermine US national interests. In recent months, Gates has been serving as a member of the Iraq Study Group chaired by Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton. The Congressionally mandated committee is scheduled to recommend new strategies for managing the war in Iraq to Bush later in the month. In a series of recent press interviews, Baker and Hamilton have indicated that they will recommend that Bush enter into negotiations with Iran and Syria. The proposed talks they say, will serve to motivate Iran and Syria to stabilize the situation in Iraq in a manner that will pave the way for a retreat of US forces from the country. Since it is Iranian and Syrian sponsorship of the insurgency that is causing the war to continue, it is fairly clear that Baker is egging for a temporary ceasefire that will last long enough to enable a pullout of US forces. The fact that the price of the temporary ceasefire will be a US defeat in Iraq and the surrender of Iraq to the tender mercies of Iran and Syria is apparently okay by Baker. (note to culture for all readers: Jihad Watch and Zeyad of Healing Iraq convinced me that we should leave Iraq, for different reasons)

In any case, these are scary times indeed. I have previously told my Republican friends of my fear of people like James Baker. The response of Bush Jr to the midterms, it seems, is to empower the James Baker wing of the Republican party. This is NOT good for Israel, but more importantly, NOT good America. Whatever Rumsfeld's foibles, he was not mixed up with the Iran-Contra scandal, and he was pro-Israel. Gates fits into neither camp. This fits way too much into Franscisco Gil-White's predictions, it is scary. I am really just hoping that the other predictions of Gil-White's do not pan out, because the nomination of Robert Gates is a horrible new development I will be following closely.