Is Iran moderating? Well, President Ahmadinejad merely wishes us to withdraw from...everywhere:
"The new U.S. government must stop its military presence in the world...When we say policies will be changed it means the U.S. should end its military presence in the world, which means the U.S. getting all their troops together and bring them back to the U.S. to serve America within the territorial boundaries of the country."
And Michael Ledeen points out other inconvenient truths--namely, that we HAVE talked with Iran in the past, we've even apologized to them. And gotten nowhere:
"There are two "stories" about Iran/U.S. relations bubbling around. One has to do with direct talks, the other with Ahmadinejad's demand that we apologize for our many past sins. I know this is spitting into the wind, but neither is news. There have been talks between Washington and Tehran ever since 1979 (the Revolution). EVERY president has authorized them. On the public record, there were nearly thirty such talks during the Bush years, and there are "private" channels as well. So there is nothing new in this, it is business-as-usual. Iranian leaders have constantly demanded that we apologize, and we have. Clinton did it. Albright did it. And then, having obtained his ounce of humiliated flesh, Khamenei told them both to go to hell. Any story about talks with Iran or apologizing to Iran should contain those historical facts. Otherwise, you can just do what most of the journalists do: Pretend the world was created fresh just before you woke up, so all that matters is how you feel about it all."
Amen.
