Please, Mr. Bush, go slowly on all of this ...

The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) will be telling us all about Iran's latest enrichment activities -- and maybe their plans -- sometime tomorrow. Indications are that Iran has again begun enriching small amounts or uranium, but at much too low a level for it to be used in any weapons program.

Yes, they are technically thumbing their nose at the UN's threatened sanctions, but maybe ... just maybe ... one Evangelist can speak in friendly tones to another Evangelist, even if one is Christian and the other Muslim. Iran has offered to talk; why not give it a chance before a cycle of tit-for-tat escalation of tensions puts us into another war in the Middle East -- one we can ill afford to prosecute, if I am to believe the US generals who worry aloud on the evening news.

Let's at least try something "new" for a change and ... will unconditional talks really be that harmful? Saying we won't talk until they suspend their program -- which Iran claims is for producing peaceful nuclear energy (and I don't believe the Iranians on that either, Mr. Bush!) -- might just enhance Iran's popularity -- and influence -- among Shiite countries from Iran to southern Iraq to Syria to Lebanon. And as I mentioned in an earlier posting, we can ill afford to take on a Shiite insurgency in the southern Shiite provinces of Iraq right now.

Let's at least be practical about all of this, Mr. Bush. Talking with that right-wing religious madman, Ahmadinejad, may be the best way to "support our troops" in Iraq at this time.