Hagel urges *gasp* DIPLOMACY with Iran

Sen. Chuck Hagel had better have his big-boy boxers on, and they had better be fire-retardant, at that.

Steve Clemons, of the Washington Note, has come upon a private letter from Hagel to President Bush urging the president to pursue "direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with the Government of Iran."

In the letter, both attached (Hagel letter pdf) and reprinted in full below, Hagel warns that "unless there is a strategic shift [from the current situation], I believe we will find ourselves in a dangerous and increasingly isolated position in the coming months." Hagel continues, "I do not see how the collective actions that we are now taking will produce the results that we seek."

Senator Hagel encourages President Bush to take the bold strategic step of offering a completely different course for US-Iran relations. He writes about direct unconditional talks:

An approach such as this would strengthen our ability across the board to deal with Iran. Our friends and allies would be more confident to stand with us if we seek to increase pressure, including tougher sanctions on Iran. It could create a historic new dynamic in US-Iran relations, in part forcing the Iranians to react to the possibility of better relations with the West. We should be prepared that any dialogue process with Iran will take time, and we should continue all efforts, as you have, to engage Iran from a position of strength.

We should not wait to consider the option of bilateral talks until all other diplomatic options are exhausted. At that point, it could well be too late.
This letter is a call for serious, level-headed rationality from one of the Senate's most stalwart "classic conservatives."

I have since learned that the letter somehow made its way to US Central Command Commander William Fallon, perhaps through Defense Secretary Gates or other avenues, and Fallon allegedly communicated with the Senator that serious articulations of American interests and consideration of the options Hagel recommends are much needed in this current political and policy environment.

The fire-breathing hordes of the right-blogosphere certainly will not brook such insolence. Hagel is about to be treated to the Full Swift-Boat (insinuations of communism, homosexuality, and pedophilia included at no extra charge). I hope he's ready.

In the meantime, let me just say how refreshing I find this display of... what to call it... SANITY from a Republican member of congress. Imagine a card-carrying member of the GOP arguing in favor of diplomacy, as opposed to pre-emptive nuclear war. I had actually forgotten what that looked like.

The only fault I find with the letter is the degree of naivete with which Hagel seems to regard Bush's intentions toward Iran.

Unless there is a strategic shift, I believe we will find ourselves in a dangerous and increasingly isolated position in the coming months. I do not see how the collective actions that we are now taking will produce the results that we seek.

With all due respect to Sen. Hagel, the failure of diplomacy and the initiation of hostilities toward Iran are the results Bush seeks.

Despite that quibble, however, and on behalf of every man woman and child on earth, I thank Sen. Hagel for attempting to inject a measure of rationality into the Bush administration's bloodstream.

As Clemons concludes:

This is a letter benchmarking the views of one of the most grounded, foreign policy savvy, common sense thinkers about the eroding state of America's military and national security portfolio. And he's a Midwestern American Republican who served in the United States Military.

Let's just hope it does some good.